The Journey To the Underworld
by stagewriter
Summary: 11 years after TLO, Seven New Half-Bloods are sent to the underworld to investigate strange goings on. They soon find out that The Titans have taken over the Underworld and plan to resurect Kronos. How can they stop them? P.S. all OCs are created by me
1. Rescuing a Son of Eros

**A/N: Here it is. This is My first Fanfiction story so please read it all and reveiw!**

Chapter 1

Rescuing a Son of Eros

My name is Odysseus. Chiron told me that my mom named me after the origional because he was her favorite hero. The only reason she named me was bacause my dad never gave me a name. I don't really know my last name. I've been a year rounder at Camp Half-Blood since I could remember. All I've ever known is camp. Training and studying has been my life. I am thirteen. Like every other child of Athena, I have storm-gray eyes and blonde hair. I'm about average height and since I've been training all my life I have a muscular build. Little did I know that one small thing, in the middle of summer, would lead to someting that would change my life, and this is where it all began;

It was pretty much a normal day in Camp Half-Blood. I sat at the beach thinking about the awesome game of Capture the Flag we all played a week and a half ago. I used my magic item, Aspis, given to me by my mother when I was named. Aspis is a block and when I hold it, no magic items or monsters can touch or hurt me. It looks like one of those little red rectangular blocks most little kids build stuff with. Aspis is Ancient Greek for 'shield'. Naturally, with me being guarder of the flag, we won. Then my thoughts drifted, I wondered what was so urgent that Mr. D had to leave early. I decided to think about it later. I would get in trouble if one of my brothers or sisters found out I was skipping parts of schedule. I started walking to the stables, when Horleus, one of my friends who happened to be a satyr, came running. Horleus is my battling partner He helps me by making me think up quick strategies and I help him in combat.

"Odysseus!" he shouted as he ran toward me, "I've been looking for you every where! Hurry! Follow Me!"

"What's wrong…?" I started to say but was too late, he'd already started running to the camp boundaries. I bolted after him, I held Aspis close. When we reached the top of Half-Blood hill, he finally slowed down.

"Wait," I said catching my breath, "What's going on?"

"Chiron sent me to get a half-blood!" he mumbled.

"So, why do you need me?"

"The kid is being followed by a hungry Cyclops."

"Oh," I said and he grabbed my wrist and started pulling me toward the bus. Outside the bus was Argus, the security guard. He had eyes all over his body so he saw everything. He never talks though. Some people say he doesn't talk because he has an eye on his tongue. They were probably wrong. On the side of the bus was a picture of strawberries for a business that the camp used to pay for things. It wasn't like it wasn't a real business, we did have a strawberry field, and we did sell them. We got on the bus and drove all the way to Boston.

Then we got off the bus and we were in the middle of the city, it was heating hot outside. Horleus, who was now wearing pants, fake feet, and shoes, pulled me into a pretty wide alley. Once I got a clear view of what was in the alley, I wanted to leave. There was a 7 foot Cyclops waddling toward a boy who was probably 13. The Cyclops had no shirt on and wore ripped up kaki shorts.

The boy suddenly spun around facing the beast. He had pink eyes. I would have stared at his pink eyes except the fact that he was holding a bow and arrow. I noticed that the tip of the arrow was a pointed heart. Then, crazily, he shot the arrow straight up out of the ally. 'Stupid!' I thought. Then the ground shook. From atop the roofs I saw a female Cyclops. I was really getting confused, which was a first. Then the female Cyclops lunged herself at the male Cyclops. I turned to face the boy, but he had disappeared. Not wanting to see what the Cyclopes next move would be, we left looking for the boy.

"Horleus, do you smell him?" I asked.

"No my nose is still a little stuffy from trying to keep the Cyclops smell out. They eat Satyrs you know!" He kept rambling on about his fear of Cyclopes while I was looking for any kind of clue where the boy had gone off too. Just then out of the corner of my eye I saw him run into a small hut in another alley. The hut had walls made of garbage and a cardboard roof and door.

"Over there!" I whispered to Horleus, pointing at the hut. We ran to the hut and burst through the cardboard door. I was about to shout that they had to come with us when another boy lunged at us with a dagger in his hand. We threw ourselves in opposite directions in attempt to dodge the dagger. However the boy had great reflexes and was definitely not the boy we saw in the ally. As he slashed Horleus's arm, I caught a glimpse of the boy standing in the back of the room. He was the same boy we saw in the ally! The other boy had red beaming eyes and was at least fourteen. Then I yelled, "Enough!" Everyone froze with a quizzical look at me.

As soon as I yelled, the pink eyed boy sighed in relief and said, "Thank gods. Fighting is stupid."

"Speak for your self," The red eyed boy said.

"W-We J-j-just want to help," Horleus said terrified of the red eyed boy.

"How do I know whether or not I can trust you." said the red eyed boy glaring at Horleus.

"You don't," I said, shrugging my shoulders, "You just have to trust us. Listen we can take you to a place where monsters won't find you."

"I don't know," said the boy with red eyes.

"I trust them," said the boy with pink eyes, "I'm Christian and this is Manilore."

"Well I guess if you're going, I'm going." Manilore said.

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be. I'm-" Horleus started to say but then he simply stopped talking and he sniffed one or two times. I didn't know how, but I knew that he smelled a monster!

"The Cyclopes?" I asked. He just shook his head. He was staring at Manilore.

"That… that's not a half-blood…" Horleus said trembling. I didn't understand. What could he mean? Manilore simply gave an evil looking sneer.

"The satyr is right," Manilore said, "I'm not a half-blood." I looked at him quizzically. "Humans have bad hearing don't they," He continued. Just then I knew what was happening! _Manilore_-_Manticore! _His body changed into the body of a lion and grew the tail of a scorpion. I lunged at Christian and my invisible force shield came out of Aspis. I threw myself and Christian onto the floor and under a small table made of trash cans and trash lids, out of the manticore's reach while Horleus jumped out the door. 'Coward' I thought. The manticore threw its deadly spikes out of its tail but fell to the ground at Aspis's shield line. Then, out of nowhere, Christian knelt up and shot an arrow at the manticore. For a spit second I saw a small tear in one of his pink eyes, probably because his only friend was trying to kill him. The arrow landed in the manticore's tail. The Manticore roared in agony.

I took advantage of its pain and took out a small knife of celestial bronze and slashed the manticore's neck. However he didn't turn into dust. In fact, he only got a cut! I tried another slash at the same spot but he'd already caught on and used his gigantic paws to throw me into the wall of the hut. I reached for my knife but it wasn't there! As Christian started shooting the manticore with his bow and heart shaped arrows, I was frantically looking for my knife. Then I saw it. It was shattered into at least ten pieces! I looked up at the Manticore and realized he'd smashed it with his tail.

Then I saw the manticore leap on top of Christian! I transferred my focus to Christian and closed my eyes. I moved my shield to cover Christian. (I could do this with Aspis.) I opened my eyes and saw the Manticore hovering over Christian, who was too stunned to move. The Manticore soon found out that he was hovering because my shield kept him off of Christian.

"Shoot it now!" I shouted and Christian shot his arrow into the manticore's belly. I then realized the arrows were made of celestial bronze. The manticore bellowed in anger and turned into fire! Then he disappeared. Horleus shuffled himself into the hut. Christian fell to his knees, silently crying. Though, I couldn't see the tears for sure through his shaggy brown hair. I could only see the tears hit the floor. I put my hand on his shoulder.

"He told me he was helping me get to the camp," he said.

"You knew about the camp?" I asked, "Camp half-blood?" He nodded.

"Yes," He continued, "As soon as he found me in Chicago, we'd been running." I wondered why the manticore wanted to get to camp half-blood. "Soon my dad, Eros, gave me the bow in defense against monsters. I didn't realize he meant_ that _monster!"

"Hold up," Horleus said, "Your dad's Eros! The son of Aphrodite and Ares! God of love! How would you know who your dad is?"

"He told me," replied Christian, "May I continue my story now?" Horleus and I nodded. "I guess I should tell you from the beginning. I was eleven. I ran away from home because my mom was a heavy drinker. And I bumped into Manilore. He told me that he could help me get to safety, so I decided to follow him. We'd stop from town to town and sometimes, if we couldn't find a place to stay, we'd make little huts like this. One day, early in the morning, while Manilore was sleeping I woke up because I thought I heard something outside. I walked out of the hut we were in, and saw Eros. And he said to me: 'Hello Christian. Iam Eros, and your father, and I have come to warn you. You will face a terrible creature that will try to use you. Take this bow and arrow. If you're to shoot a creature, it will either fall in love with its opposite sex or kill.' And he gave me a kiss on my forehead and disappeared. Then we came to Boston and all of this happened." He finished, his voice was as meek as a mouse.

We all just stood there in silence for a moment.

"Well,"I said, "Let's get going."

"Um," Christian said, "Where is the camp?"

"Long Island, New York," I replied.

"It might take a few days to get there on foot," Horleus said. Christian sighed. I had a sudden idea.

"Wait," I said, "I have a better idea." I lead them out of the hut and into a small ally where there were some pipes. I made a small hole in the pipes with one of the shards from my knife and a small drizzle of water sprayed out, making a rainbow. I pulled a golden drachma out of my pocket and said, "Oh Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, except my offering," and threw the coin into the mist.

It disappeared and through the drizzle I could see one of my friends Violet. She was the daughter of Iris. She was a little short and had blonde hair with rainbow eyes. Literally, they were like a rainbow put into someone's eyes. She had a few sisters and brothers with color names, like Scarlet and Azure. I waved and she saw me.

"Where have you been?" She said.

"Long story," I said, "Could you give us a ride there?"

She looked at me like I was joking. She and I both knew that would make her tired. Really tired considering the distance. When she saw I wasn't joking she grunted and reached through the rainbow. I could now actually grab her hand. Only a few children of Iris could do stuff like this.

"Grab onto each other," I ordered. Horleus grabbed Christian's and my wrist while squeezing his eyes shut. He hated this type of transportation. Then Violet pulled us threw the rainbow. There was a flash of random colors and then we were suddenly trampling onto the soft grass of Camp Half Blood.

"You owe me one big time," Violet said as she weakly helped us up.

"I know," I admitted. We started walking toward the Big House.

"So who's the new kid?"

"Umm," I said, not knowing where to start, "Christian, he uh…well, he already knows who his father is and he's got a magical item and everything."

"So who's his parent?" She asked.

"Eros," I answered.

"He has a lot of kids," She said.

"I know. Hey Christian," I said. Christian turned. He was obviously paying more attention to the rest of the camp.

"Yeah," He said.

"You're kind of going to have a lot of half brothers and sisters."

We all talked to each other as we walked to the big house. Christian showed his bow and heart shaped arrows to Violet and explained what it did. Violet showed him her magical item which was a shield that could show you other places and makes a rainbow that acts like a door way to go from one place to another. I guess you could call it a teleporter.

Then we finally reached the big house and walked through the doors.


	2. We Fight Exteme Losers

Chapter 2

We Fight Extreme Losers

Chiron showed Christian to his cabin and told him that there was going to be a game of Capture the Flag on Friday. Horleus had gone off to the strawberry field right after we went in the big house. A day later Violet came up to me after lunch.

"So what happened yesterday?" She asked. I told her what happened and she looked at me uneasily. "You know, when a monster turns on fire…"

"I know," I interrupted, "All he did was escape." She looked at me with a worried look.

"Why would a manticore want to get into camp half-blood? He's worked for the titans before; do think he's trying to help the titans rise again?

"Chiron thinks so, but I think there's more to it." I replied. She started to laugh.

"What?" I asked.

"Look at yourself," she laughed. She grabbed my hand, brought me to the beach, and showed me my reflection in the water. I started to laugh too! Strands of my dirty blonde hair (my hair wasn't dirty, just messy) was either sticking up or knotted and I had small purple circles from my lack of sleep under my storm-gray eyes. We laughed together while she fixed my hair until I pulled away. I would comb it later. I looked at her and could swear that anyone who looked her in the eyes could stare at them for hours. She and I had been best friends for a long time. She came here three years ago and we became friends right away. She was not dropped off by a parent though. She ran away from home two years before she got here. She would never tell anyone anything about her dad though. All I know is that he's a painter. Anyway, it was good that her mom was a minor goddess because if she wasn't Violet would have died out there alone. She said that she only ran into a monster once and that 'it was not a big deal'. She never said which monster it was. When she arrived at camp, as soon as we got her to the big house, a rainbow appeared over her head. It was Iris claiming her. She said that she usually always saw rainbows and that a rainbow in the sky showed her the way here. Obviously Iris was helping her get to safety. After I was done having a flash back of her arrival, we sat on the beach when Christian came running toward us. Violet and I realized we were still holding hands. We pulled away from each other just as Christian came up to us.

"Hey," Christian said, "I was wondering if you guys could give me a tour? Besides the cabins, a couple of my siblings already showed me that."

Violet and I agreed and showed him the stables, which had pegasi in it. I told him that the Demeter cabin used to be in charge of the stables until the Iris cabin took over. Violet explained that children of Iris can gain control over a pegasi super fast and that they even have the power to summon pegasi. We also showed him the mess hall, the strawberry field, the amphitheater, the rock climbing wall, and even where the bathroom was. Christian asked a lot of questions. Fortunately for me, I knew all of the answers.

After what seemed like the billionth question, he asked, "Is there a place where we have practice battles or something?"

"Yeah," Violet said, "The arena."

"Could I see it?" he asked.

"Sure," I said.

We started walking toward the arena. Once we got there, we saw John; one of the children of Ares, and three of his friends blocking the front of the entrance to the arena.

"Do you mind moving?" I asked them.

"Actually, yes, we would mind moving," said John laughing with his friends. He was tall but you couldn't call him scrawny because he was slightly bulky for his age. I was not scrawny either but compared to him I was a twig. His sword/magical item, was clutched in his hands.

"Oh," said Violet, "And why not?"

"Well you can get through," said John grabbing her hand, "but your friends have to fight to get in."

"If they fight, I fight," said Violet pushing his hand away from hers.

"Well," said John smiling, "Sorry to say, but your out numbered."

"Not if I join." said a voice from behind. I tuned to find Eli, Son of Apollo, walking toward us. He stopped right next to me. He held his spear in his hand. This was his magical item. It allowed him to do anything with the light. While he held it he could even make sunlight a solid matter. I took Aspis out if my back pocket while Christian grabbed his bow and arrow out of his backpack and Violet hit her bracelet and her shield came out of it. Unfortunately for John's friends they just had regular swords and shields, which was also unfortunate for me. Aspis only protects me from monsters and magical items. A regular sword would slice threw my force field and make me a shish-ka bob!

Without warning, John and his friends launched. Suddenly one of the torch's fires started to stir and began to shoot at us. It was John's sword, controlling the fire! I held up Aspis and my force shield grew larger to create a boundary around us. The fire surrounded the force shield, looking for a weak point. However the fire also made it impossible to see the outside. Violet got in front of us and showed us the outside with her shield. To my left, one of the boys was about to jump in. Eli came in front of my left, prepared to attack. Then, as soon as the boy jumped in, Eli threw his spear at the ground in front of the boy. The boy smiled because he thought that Eli missed but he smiled too. Out of the top of the spear, Light shot up and blinded the boy. Eli ran up and kicked him out side. Eli took the spear and became ready for the next opponent, but the fire just disappeared and we saw no one!

"Look out!" shouted Violet. We all spun around to see John and the other two boys charging strait at us! I got a plan in an instant.

"Eli," I said, "I need you to make solid light boxes between the three them." Eli looked at me quizzically.

"Why…"

"Just do it!" I shouted. So he listened. He lifted his spear and the heat rays from the sun shown brighter separating each one of them in boxes of solid light. Each box was around ten feet tall. He knew what I was doing now. Eli made an opening in the two boxes on the ends. We entered one of the boy's box while Violet and Christian entered the other. Leaving John just standing in the middle box. I distracted the boy while Eli used his spear, again to blind the boy. This time I got the honor of kicking him into next Friday.

Then the plan went wrong. Just as the boy fell to the ground we herd Violet scream in the other box. Eli and I knew we had to stick to the plan so he made the light wall open so we could get to the box John was in. However the box was empty! At the other side leading to the box Violet was in, was a slash making a small opening. We got into the other box to see Christian and the two boys lying on the ground, knocked out; next to them was Violet's shield on the ground, while she was weaponless with John pointing his sword at her neck. She glanced at us and smiled. I concentrated on Violet and my shield moved to her. Because John's Sword was a magical item, his sword flew from Violet's neck and out of John's hands! Then Eli kicked him to the ground and held John weaponless with his spear at John's chest.

"Okay," John squeaked. Then, in attempt to lower his voice he said, "You win."

"Thank you," I said. Eli lowered his spear and I walked to Violet to make sure she was okay.

"I'm fine," she said, but I helped her up anyway. Then the both of us helped get Christian up.

"Did we win?" He asked as we helped him up.

"Yeah," I said, "We won."

Violet, Eli and I showed him the arena. And then we all walked back to our cabins. An hour later we all went to dinner. I sat at the Athena table with my half siblings while Christian sat at the Eros table and Violet sat at the Iris table. There were a lot of tables, however not every minor god had a cabin and table because then there would be too many. So just the main minor gods, like Iris, Eros, Nemesis, Erebus, Janus, etc., have cabins. Plus some minor gods don't have children. We all scraped some food from our plate into the fire as offerings to the gods and had a great meal. We went to the bon fire were Eli and the other Apollo kids led us in singing while we ate s'mores. After we were done, we left to the cabins and after a few hours of kids running around the cabin, reading, and doing research just for fun, we rested for the night.

I had a weird dream that night. I saw John, asleep on his bed. Suddenly a shadow quickly glided across the room. Then something stopped at John's bed. I had to squint to see who it was. Then, the light of the moon shown through the window and I saw the Manticore. He was chuckling as he grabbed John and dragged him out of the room.

My eyes flew open and I bolted up strait. I looked around the dark room. Everything seemed fine, so I laid back into bed and drifted into sleep.


	3. I Reveal Manticore's Dirty Little Secret

**A/N: Just so you know, the reason that children of the big three are older is because it goes along with Poseidon said in TLO**

Chapter 3

I Reveal the Manticore's Dirty Little Secret

I woke up the next morning and got dressed and everything in a hurry. I don't know why, but I am always eager to get the day started.

I was the first one to get out of the Athena cabin door and at the eating table. Once everyone was at the tables we all began to eat. After we were done, we went about our daily activities. We went to do some archery first. I was good, but not nearly as good as Christian or Eli. Sword play was next. This and arts and crafts were the things I was best at. After that, I realized that my clothes smelled really horrid so I went back to the Athena cabin to get a change of clothes. After I got redressed, I saw the Athena cabin consoler Dave. Dave was about 19, he had brown hair, and like me, storm-gray eyes.

"Hi Dave," I said.

"Hey," He said, "I forgot that the Hades and Poseidon cabins are the captains for capture the flag."

"Whose team are we on?" I asked.

"We're on the blue team. Poseidon. Hermes, Iris, Eros, Demeter, and a few other minor God cabins are also on our team." I did a little happy dance in my head. I was so happy that Violet and Christian were on my team. Then a thought came to me.

"Who's on the other team?" I asked.

"Um… I think Ares, Dionysus, Apollo, Zeus, Nemesis, Janus, and a few others are on their team." I was sad and happy at the same time. Eli having to be on the other team was the sad part. The happy part was that John was also on the other team.

Just then Mary, daughter of Zeus and consoler of the Zeus cabin, came walking by. She had black hair, with bright blue eyes. I guess you could say she was pretty, well, at least Dave thought so. Everyone knew he had a crush on her a few years ago and I'm willing to bet he still does. She waved and walked past us.

"Well," I said after an awkward silence, "Gotta go, bye."

"Ok, see you around," said Dave, still looking at Mary.

I started walking toward the rock climbing wall, when I suddenly had to use the bathroom. I ran and did what I needed to do. After I was finished, I washed my hands. Just as I was about half way out the door I herd pounding. I took a step back in the bathroom. The pounding got louder. I started walking toward the back closet to see if that was where it was coming from. As soon as I put my hand around the doorknob, John came shooting out of a near by stall. He grabbed me and flung me against the wall. The pounding got as loud as ever. Then I noticed something different about John. His eyes were red instead of blackish brown. His hair was a lighter brown than his dark brown hair. This was weird. Then he reminded me of someone, but who?

As soon as he sneered, I knew that he wasn't John. It was Manilore! How could he have gotten past the boundaries? I was too stunned to do anything.

"Don't go in there," demanded Manilore in a voice that sounded just like John. I narrowed my eyes. Could my dream be real? I never got that kind of dream. Suddenly the pounding stopped and John's friends came in.

"Hey John," said one, "We've been looking for you all morning! Come on, it's almost time for capture the flag."

"Oh," said Manilore in a perfect impression of John, "I uh… Forgot?"

"That's okay, come on," said another one of the boys. Then they all walked out of the room.

I ran out of the bathroom, forgetting about my curiosity of what was pounding in the back closet. I started looking for Horleus everywhere. I went to the strawberry fields, the arena and the workshop. When I reached the stables I saw Chiron and Horleus feeding horses and pegasi.

"Horleus," I said catching my breath, "The manticore… It's in the camp… impersonating John!" I gasped.

"Odysseus," Chiron said, "How would a manticore even get past the boundaries?"

"I don't know," I said, "But you have to trust me!"

"Sorry but you have no proof. I will check into your story, but until you can give me solid proof…" He sighed, "Listen. I trust you, but I don't know if you could be lying! Because I know you and John have a rivalry and you could be just trying to get him in trouble or… If I were you, I would just drop it." He finished feeding one more Pegasus and walked off. I looked at Horleus in hope he believed me.

"Chiron's right, Odysseus," he said and then he walked off to the strawberry fields. I told Violet and Eli but they said the same thing Chiron said. I felt alone. I didn't know what to do now. Then a thought occurred to me. I ran to the Eros cabin were I saw Christian walking out.

"Christian!" I shouted.

"What?" He asked.

"Follow me." I told him. I brought him in the stands of the arena. There we saw Manilore still pretending to be John. I told him my theory. He simply nodded.

"Yep," He said, "That's Manilore." My hopes lifted up to the sky. "But how do we get proof?" He asked and my hopes dropped back down. I hadn't thought about that. Then I came up with a plan.

"During Capture the Flag." I replied. He looked at me confused. "During capture the flag, if we can get him to reveal himself or turn him into dust we can prove it!"

"Ah," He said nodding. Then he suddenly stopped. "How do we do that? I mean, if you couldn't turn him into dust last time, how will you do it this time?"

"Hey," I said, "I came up with the plan; it's time you came up with something. Um… We're on the same team so we can gang up on Manilore! We almost defeated him last time and at that time we didn't know what to do. Think about what would happen if we _did_ have a plan!"

We spent that free hour planning about a dozen different strategies. We both figured he'd show his true form during the fight because he's strongest that way. Later, everyone got on their armor and magical items for Capture the Flag.

Christian and I both got put on Boarder Patrol. Chiron announced the rules (the creek is the boundary line, the whole forest is fair game, the banner be prominently displayed and no more than two guards, prisoners may be disarmed but must not be bound or gagged, and that there's no killing and/or maiming is allowed.) He also announced that he would be referee and medic and blew his horn. The game began. I turned to watch most of our team charge to the enemy's territory. Violet ran right by me. Before she could get across the creek I grabbed her.

"Hey! What the heck!" She shouted.

"I need you to show me the manticore!" I shouted. She was giving me a confused and dirty look. She reached out her shield and threw a golden drachma into the rainbow it created. I saw Manilore running toward the river, pretending to be John. Where was the real John anyway? I looked at Violet who was astounded.

"You were right…" She said, "But… I'll help you."

"What?" I asked.

"I know exactly what you and Christian are up to and I'll help."

"Um…" I thought whether I should say 'no', but instead I shrugged my shoulders and said "Sure."

We ran to Christian and charged across the river. I herd Dave shouting from behind, "What are you doing!"

We ran for a while until we found ourselves completely alone. Suddenly the Manticore in his true form leaped through the air.

"Well hello, my old friends," growled the manticore.

"What are you doing here?" scowled Christian.

"Well, that's none of your business. Actually my biggest worry isn't you; it's how I'm going to hide your _bodies_." The manticore laughed. Christian and I knew what to do next.

I threw myself at him as he was laughing. I started to cut and, as expected, he jumped to his right in an attempt to dodge me. Unfortunately for him, Christian shot the side of his body four times. He growled as he took the pain. He lunged himself. But not at Christian but Violet! I then moved my shield Aspis to Violet's aid but he must have expected that because before I could realize what he was doing, he'd already done it! He jumped on top of me. As he hit me to the ground, I felt my sword fly out of my hand. He slashed his paw at Aspis and it flew out of my other hand. He then pinned my arms down. I was helpless and his sharp claws were digging into my arms. I closed my eyes tightly shut to try to ease the pain but it just hurt more and more. My eye's flung open and I saw Violet trying to shove the manticore off of me with her shield. However she just wasn't strong enough. In a split second, Manilore whacked her to the ground with his tail. Suddenly three arrows hit his tail. We both looked to our right to see Christian charging at us with his bow and arrow pointed at Manilore. Then, out of Manilore's tail, He flung razor sharp spikes at Christian! The spicks tore through Christian's armor and stabbed his chest, arm, and leg.

"Violet," I shouted, "We need to get Chiron here now!" She nodded. She ran and grabbed her shield. She then moved her hand across it and a rainbow glided out of the center of the shield. She tossed a coin into the rainbow.

"Oh, Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, except my offering." Violet said as she set down the shield. The rainbow grew and opened. She must have seen Chiron because she grabbed her shield and ran threw the rainbow. Then she was gone and the rainbow popped out of existence.

Now Christian and I had to keep the manticore busy. I wiggled my legs between his hind legs and kicked his stomach. He half jumped half fell off of me. I grabbed Aspis and my sword and stood up. I ran to Christian. I tried to help his wounds but every time I touched them, they seemed to get worse. I looked at the manticore and charged. I held my sword high ready to slash him to dust. I got close to him and _Wham! _He slapped me to the ground. I quickly got up but he hit me down again. I wouldn't give up though. I got up again and again, and he hit me to the ground again and again. After what seemed like the hundredth time of me getting knocked down I made a final desperate attempt to get him.

"When are you going to give up?" He laughed, "How long will it take for you to sur…" I interrupted him with a slash of my sword threw his head! He shrieked which I found very weird considering he's a man with a lion body and scorpion tail. His red eyes widened as he turned into a dust pile. I fell to my knees and crawled to Christian. I sat next to him for a long time.

"Odysseus," said a deep voice from behind. I turned to see Chiron with Violet on his back. How long he'd been there, I didn't know. Violet slid off his back and kneeled next to me.

"Is he ok?" she asked.

"I don't know," I said, "He's been just laying there for a long time." Chiron came up behind us.

"Odysseus," He said, I looked up and saw his face, his deep brown eyes that had seen pretty much everything. "We have to get Christian and you to the Big House." Then without warning he picked Christian and I up and carried us back to camp on his back while Violet followed.

"I'm sorry. You were right about the manticore," said Chiron.

"It's alright," I said. Then a thought occurred to me. "Where's the real John?" I asked, forgetting how late it was and tiered I was.

"Uh…" Chiron stopped in his tracks, "That's not the only thing! Who summoned the manticore?"

I jumped off of his back.

"I think I know were John is!" I said.

"Were?" asked Violet.

"Follow me," I lead them to the bathroom. I remembered the pounding and how the manticore didn't want me going in the closet. I had to give it to him; no one would ever look in _that_ closet.

"Ew! I'm not going in there!" complained Violet.

"Fine," I told her. Christian woke up and started bellowing in pain! I looked at Chiron worryingly.

"Violet if you're not coming in," Chiron said, "then please take Christian to the big house and give him some Ambrosia and Nectar."

"Sure," said Violet helping Christian walk toward the big house. Chiron followed me inside and I opened the back closet. John came tumbling out, wrapped like a mummy in duck tape. I couldn't help but to laugh. Then Chiron gave me a look that meant to shut up and I helped him un-wrap John. Once we were done, John stood up angrily.

"Well, it took you long enough!" He shouted. He then marched out the room and started off to his cabin.

"It's late," Chiron said, "You should get some rest but I'd like to see you at the Big House tomorrow morning."

"Yes sir," I replied and I left toward my cabin.


	4. I Get a Quest

Chapter 4

I Get a Quest

The Following morning was pretty slow. It seemed as if the whole world was going in slow motion. After breakfast I walked up to the Big House. Once there, I saw Violet, Mary, Christian, John, and Eli all standing in the middle of the room.

"What are you doin' here?" John asked irritably.

"Chiron, asked me to come here, what are you guys doing here," I asked.

"The same reason, you're here," said Violet. It was a little confusing that Chiron would ask a bunch of half-bloods to the big house and not show up. I joined them in the center of the room. Then we herd thunder. Wait what! It started to rain outside and a bolt of lightning flashed the camp. With a gust of wind, the lights went out. Violet gasped but the rest of us remained calm. Well… pretended to stay calm. I wanted to scream. It was really unusual weather. Another flash of lighting and the lights went back on. In the midst of us stood someone vaguely familiar. Violet screamed, and after a short stare into his eyes I realized he looked like Mary, except more powerful. (Which is saying something because she looked really powerful.)

With a sudden outburst, Mary shouted "Oh gods! Father?"

Then it clicked! This powerful man in the exact center of the room was Zeus! We should have bowed to him or something but all of us just stood there in awe. I felt a little stupid just standing there with my mouth dropped right open. After a while, Zeus realized that he wasn't going to get any other reaction so he just started talking.

"Hello," he said but we still just stared at him. I'd seen him before at the Winter Solstice field trip but I couldn't believe that he was at camp half-blood.

"Well," He continued, "I'm here to give you an important message. Normally Hermes or Iris would but since all of you except Mary are so young… You see, we believe that the Manticore coming here was to start something. All over the country, Monsters have become more aggressive for some reason. When we asked Hades on the matter he refused to help. I would like you to go in the underworld and find out what's been going on down there and try to help."

"Wait," Violet said, "The Underworld! But, but, but… once you go to the underworld, isn't it, like, impossible to get out."

"Not true. You can always go the same way you got in. I would like you all to go see the oracle, one at a time, to determine who will lead this mission."

"Why isn't she coming here?" I asked.

Without an answer he vanished.

We went oldest to youngest. Mary was sent first, just to come back with absolutely no luck and an aggravated expression on her face. Then Eli went up and I was sure he would get the prophecy, him being son of the god of prophecies and all. He came back with a smile on his face but no prophecy.

It was my turn. I walked outside the big house and toward the Thalia's tree. It was amazing how quickly Eli and Mary got there and back. It felt like double the time it took them total, once I got to the small eerie cave. Outside the cave it looked like waist land.

I looked at Half-Blood Hill. I grew up in this camp and I've never been outside of it. Even though I knew a lot about the outside world, I've never been there. The only time I've ever gone outside of camp was on the winter solstice field trip. I stayed in this camp ever since my dad gave me up when I was two years old.

I walked in and saw a girl in her upper twenties in age, with long red hair, just sitting on a couch reading a magazine. When she looked up to me, she dropped the magazine and stood up strait. Then, she opened her mouth and green smoke surrounded me while she said with a creepy raspy voice:

"_You shall find the one who is lost in the rain _

_Another shall live forever in pain_

_The fight of demigods and the decision of winning_

_And to be betrayed by the one who is missing" _

She sat back in a slouched way and put her feet back to her side. She looked for her magazine until she noticed me. She stood up.

"Can I help you," she asked.

"Uh," I said, "Well… You could explain what you just said."

"What do you mean?" she said.

I left at that moment. She was freaky enough without forgetting about that prophecy. I ran back to the big house as fast as I could. I realized I didn't get that girl's name, but at the moment, I didn't care.

I reached the big house sweating. I was really scared.

"What happened?" Chiron said. He must have gotten there just before I arrived.

"I got it," I said, "I got the prophecy."

"Excellent," said Chiron, "Now, tell us exactly what she said."

Before I even opened my mouth the oracle lady came in the room sweating twice as much as I was.

"Oh my gods," She said in a panicked tone, "I am sooo, sorry! Did I hurt you?"

"Um…no," I said. I knew that she wasn't aware of the prophecies that she told but I didn't think she would care if anything happened to a kid who herd one.

"Thank Gods," She said, "I thought I might have, like, took you sanity away or something!"

"Excuse me," I said, kind-of insulted.

"The way you just ran away like that," She continued, "I'm so sorry," She gave me an awkward hug.

Chiron cleared his throat, getting the lady's attention. "Yes Rachel," He said, "You were very worried you hurt him. You do this to every half-blood you give a prophecy to. Now, Odysseus, the prophecy please."

"Umm…" I said, "_You shall find the one who is lost in the rain."_

"It rains almost everywhere," said Eli.

"And who could be the lost one?" asked Chiron.

"_Another shall live forever in pain_," I continued.

"Well," John said, "That's good news."

"Then I suggest that you all be careful on this quest."

That was reassuring.

"And um…_ The fight of demigods and the decision of winning._" I finished. I didn't want to say the last line. I just felt like it was better that way. No one commented on that last line, but Chiron looked at me as if he knew I was holding back.

"Alright," Chiron said, "Well, I'll give you guys some time to think about this quest and then tomorrow morning you'll be off."

"Wait!" It came out a little louder than I meant it to be, "I thought only two people could accompany me."

"I agree with you, but Zeus told me that it was important that I sent a large group. Well, off you guys go. I'll get some plane tickets to Los Angelus for tomorrow and you'll be off."

"But," I said, "But if we take a plane we won't see anything."

"So," said Christian. It was easy for him to say. So far he'd spent his entire life outside of this camp, and for me it was vise versa.

"Well," I stuttered, then, once I figured what I'd say, I continued, "I've never been out of this camp and I'd like to see the outside world."

"What do you mean?" asked Chiron, but he looked at me in an almost understanding way.

"I wish to travel by foot or bus." I concluded.

"What!" yelled Mary, "But if we take a plane we could be getting there and back all in the same day."

"Odysseus is the leader of the group so I will allow him to travel the way he wishes." said Chiron.

"Thank you," I said.

We all left and Mary and John ran off in different directions. Eli, Christian, Violet, and I decided to give ourselves a day off from schedule. We all sat in the stands of the arena.

"Congrads," said Eli, "Your leading a pretty important quest here. Man, you should have seen Mary's face when you came back with the prophecy. She looked like she was about to go ballistic that you got it and she didn't!"

Eli was always so happy-go-lucky. He'd been my first friend here. Even though he arrived five years after I did. He's half a year older than me but around the same height. I remember I wanted to run away plenty of times before he and Violet came along. It always seemed like everyone hated being around me. The only sort of nice ones were Dave and a couple other Athena kids, but I never really considered them friends, just good brothers and sisters.

Eli got here like he'd been waiting to get here his whole life. He looked around everything like he'd seen everything before. He used to live in Phoenix, Arizona with his mom. He looked nothing like her. She had almost black hair while his was light blonde. She had bright blue eyes and he had dark brown, they just looked like each other by there noses. Other than that, she looked nothing like him. She comes and picks him up over winter, so then it's usually just me and Violet.

"Thanks, I'm kind of nervous," I admitted.

"There's no need to be," Violet said grabbing my hand as if that would clam my nerves. "You know more about …" She said, trying to decide what word to use next, "Well…everything. Yea, you know more about pretty much everything more than everyone at camp."

"Yea, but…" I started to say.

"But what?" asked Christian, "You have nothing to worry about. Besides we're here to back you up."

"Plus, think on the _bright_ side," Eli said. He made stupid puns about his dad being to god of the sun all the time. Most of the time they were so stupid that you couldn't help laughing. But this time I didn't let out even a single chuckle.

"You get to boss around John and Mary!" He exclaimed, "The two most stuck up jerks in the camp."

"Must admit, I think I'll like that part." I laughed.

We fooled around and practiced fighting each other a bit. Violet borrowed a couple of Eli's weapons but I don't think he cared because he has a ton of weapons. He had a dagger, a bow and arrows, a sword, and his spear.

After we were done we lay down on the floor and stared at the sky. I started to think about the last line of prophecy. I thought of who could betray me. At first I thought of John but as I thought more I started to think Violet would betray us. I mean, I know pretty much nothing about her past. What if that one monster she saw brainwashed her or something? The more I thought about it the more it seemed possible. I tried not thinking about it but I couldn't.

After about half an hour of silence, Eli stood up and walked in front of me.

"Why didn't you tell us the whole prophecy?" he asked. I looked up at him. He had his armed crossed and looked agitated. Almost like he'd been waiting to ask that question since we left the big house.

"What?" I asked, almost in self defense.

"Dude," He said, "You're my best friend. I know when you're holding something back. Plus, my dad in the GOD of prophecies, you'd think I'd know if there's one that's incomplete."

Now he was trying to make me spill out the truth through aggravation. He knew hated being called 'dude'. If he really wanted information he would've cursed me but that would be a bad idea to do that the day before a quest started. I stood up and said nothing. By that time everyone was already in a small circle.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I finally said.

"Liar," said Violet. Sadly, she knew when I lied too.

"Guys," I said, trying to keep cool. Which is pretty hard when you hate even slightly being dishonest. "It's nothing to worry about alright? It's no big deal."

"Um, yes it is," Eli said. He seemed to be getting really angry, but it was impossible to tell. He was a really good actor and much better than I am at keeping a cool head. I, on the other hand, I had a quick temper and was not the best under pressure, unless it was life or death. (And I know that as a fact.)

"No, it's not," I said. I was getting a little angry.

"Yes it is," Eli said. He was so calm it was amazing. This aggravated me even more. "One line in a prophecy could decide the entire outcome."

"Why can't you just trust me?" I shouted with out meaning to. Violet flinched.

"We're sorry," Violet said in her most innocent way, "We just need to know."

"Trust me," I said, as I calmed my voice, "You don't want to know."

Christian shifted his posture a little and said, "I trust you." We all looked at him, with shocked expressions.

"Guys, if he says we don't need to know…" He said a little uncomfortably, "Well…Then we probably don't need to know."

"Alright," Eli said in surrender. He started walking away and Violet followed him.

I knew he wasn't going to leave me alone until he found out that last line. Christian shifted leaning hips and walked with Violet and Eli. I felt totally alone and wanted to go join them in they're walk but I just went to my cabin and did random research while I waited for dinner.

After dinner I left to the arena to get my anger out on a couple of practice dummies. After a while I turned and saw Eli standing in the entrance in silence. I hoped he hadn't been there the whole time.

"Hey," he said once he realized I noticed him. He walked up to me until he was maybe 10 feet from me.

"Hey," I replied.

"Listen, I'm sorry about…"

"To be betrayed by the one who's missing." I interrupted him.

After a moment of silence he asked: "What?"

"That was the line I left out of the prophecy."

"I'm guessing you don't want me to tell anyone?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because, if I'm going to be betrayed I don't want anyone to know. I'll pretend that I don't know and wait for them to hint at anything or betray me. If I just went up and said it aloud, the traitor would be much more couscous."

"Hey," He said as he walked to a regular talking distance, "Don't worry about it. Whoever tries to betray you, you'll still have me and Violet to back you up."

"Alright" I said doubtfully.

We then walked back to our cabins and for a while I just looked at a map of the U.S. on the Smart Board for a few hours. It was eleven thirty and like usual, the Athena cabin was busy with kids reading or doing research. Usually none of us went to bed until midnight but I plopped onto the bed and fell asleep instantly.

That night I had another weird dream.

This time it looked like I was in a cave or underground. In front of me was a dark pit and I got the feeling I didn't want to get close to it. I tried to back away but I realized I couldn't move. There was a fifteen foot muscular guy standing a few feet away from the edge of the pit. He started pacing and looked like he was having a nervous break down or something. As he turned I caught a glimpse at him and realized that he was Hades! Hold on! If that's Hades then I must have been in the underworld, and that, that pit was Tartarus.

"You can't!" Hades yelled at Tartarus, "You can't take over the underworld!"

"But dear Hades," said a female voice from the pits of Tartarus. She sounded like a woman twice as powerful than the rest of the earth. I thought of which females had been sent to Tartarus.

"We already have." Continued the female voice, "I realized that since the giants weren't able to win a second time for me, so now I chose every child to fight and take over! Thank you for allowing us to use the underworld as a base."

"I did no such thing. We were attacked!" Hades yelled. He looked like he was about to cry. I felt bad for him.

"My children beet you fair and square," The woman teased.

"No!" screamed Hades, "You raised them out of Tartarus four months after you were defeated without me knowing! They've only _just_ decided to show themselves. After eleven years you'd think you would've given up by now! Only Kronos is still down there!"

Did they just say that the titans took over the underworld! No way. That was probably why seven of us are being sent. However I don't think seven will be enough. Hades knelt down and started shacking.

"You poor baby," said the female voice, "You can't even call for help from your brothers."

"Shut up!"

"Just think," The voice said enthusiastically, "On the summer solstice, Kronos will awake and they will begin my wonderful plan." Out of the darkness Persephone came in followed by the Furies. Persephone knelt down and comforted Hades.

"We have to go. Some of the dead are starting to fight for your freedom and we need you to order them to stop." Persephone said into his ear. Hades looked a little happy that the dead kind of liked him better than the titans. They stood up and left.

I woke up sweating and realized it was mourning.


	5. We Meet the Bus Driver of Death

**A/N The story Switch by OfAngels is really good, read that after this**

Chapter 5

We Meet the Bus Driver of Death

I got up and brushed my teeth, combed my hair, etc. I finished packing my bag with a map, a plastic bag of ambrosia and nectar, some golden drachmas, a few small books, my tooth brush, and some extra underwear, just in case. I put on a blue t-shirt, jeans, sneakers and a black hoodie. I opened a small box that was underneath my bunk.

Inside was a necklace that I never wore except on special occasions. It had ten beads on it since I had been here ten years. This year I will be getting my eleventh bead, assuming that I don't die on the quest. I looked at the bead in the middle. It was of the Empire State Building. Around the boarder it had a lot of names on it in Greek letters. I knew that those names where of those who died during the second Titan war.

I, however, was not allowed to fight since I was too young. I remembered it as if it were yesterday. Most of the campers were leaving to go to the Empire State Building. I had put on armor that was three times too big on me and I grabbed a sword twice my height. I was about to get on the bus but I was stopped by Dave, who brought me back to the cabin. In order to make sure I would be safe, he stayed and played with me in a secret compartment underneath the cabin.

I decided not to bring the necklace with me on the quest. It was too special for me to loose. I closed the box and slid it back below my bunk. 'Were would I put my sword?' I wondered. It was too large to fit in my pockets. I hooked it on my belt and slid it into one of those sword bade cases that keep the sword from cutting anything, and hid it under my pants. I flung my bag over my back, slipped Aspis in my back pocket, and left the rest of my siblings snoring.

I climbed up half-blood hill and saw Christine and Violet up there talking. Violet was wearing a purple tank-top with short short jeans. I mean the really short ones, the kind that go down to your thighs. Christian was wearing a pink short sleeve shirt and jeans. Both had their bags against Thalia's Tree. Ladon didn't seem to care though as the Golden Fleece was on the other side

"Hey," Violet said with a smile. I threw my bag next to theirs and joined in there conversation. It didn't take long until John came up and we didn't feel like talking while he was around. He was wearing camouflage shorts and a red t-shirt. His dark brown hair was about a half of an inch tall and his bangs stood out forward like spikes. It almost looked black. He kept his bag on his back and once he got up he stood away from us while looking at the empty street. The only thing there was Argus getting the bus ready. Eli came up in his black basketball shorts and his orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, he flung his bag along with ours and joined our little circle.

I looked over at John and he looked kind of sad. Probably because everyone at camp hated him. Even his friends hated him because he was always so mean and bossy. I remembered what it felt like to not have any real friends. I invited him to come join us but he refused. I figured it would take some time to get on his good side.

Finally, around six a.m. Mary came up the hill with nothing but herself. She wore her blue blouse and tan shorts. She looked annoyed and once she got up everyone grabbed their bags and climbed on the bus. We drove until we reached down state New York. We unloaded the bus and stood there as Argus drove off.

"Now what?" Mary wined. For the oldest person in the group she was the most annoying. She acted like a five year old.

"We wait here," I said pointing at the bus stop so Mary wouldn't get confused, "For a bus to come pick us up. We're heading for Los Angeles, and we have to get there by the summer solstice."

"Why do we have to get there by then?" asked Eli.

I was hesitant but I told Eli about my dream. So far, only him and I new the whole story.

"Um," Mary started again in her winy voice, "A bus can't get us to Illinois in a month, much less California."

"Yes, it will. In fact it would take us five days. And we have a six days to get there."

We waited half an hour for the bus in silence.

Once it got here we were all so relived. We got in a sort of line to get on, me being in the front. The bus door opened and I suddenly wanted to wait for the next bus. The bus driver was an old lady with a black veil over her head. She wore a black dress and I couldn't see her face. She made me want to leave.

"What's wrong," The woman asked in a soothing calm voice, I suddenly felt like I could trust her.

"Nothing," I replied.

"Come in I won't bite. Oh, my," she said.

"What's wrong?" I asked suddenly worried if I'd hurt her feeling.

"It's just that you remind me of one of my sister's…_friends._"

"Oh," I said hoping I wasn't blushing. In the background I could hear a feint slither. Like snakes, but I figured it was probably the engine.

"Well," the lady asked, "Are you coming on or not?"

We all climbed on immediately. I was disappointed that there weren't any seats in the front. I wanted to talk to the lady more for some strange reason. We wobbled to the very back row and sat down. I sat down, Eli to my right and Violet to my left. Christian sat next to Eli at the window seat. John sat next to Violet and Mary sat at the far left. Mary put her head against the window and immediately started snoring.

"Do you guys find that lady a little strange?" asked Violet. She sounded a little worried.

"No," John, Eli and I answered in unison.

"I find her a little weird. Something about her voice, almost charm speaking." said Christian

"What's that?" John, Eli and I said in unison again. It was actually getting a little creepy but at the time I didn't care.

"It's like talking in a certain way that convinces you to do what ever the speaker wants. Some Aphrodite and Eros kids can do it."

"Can you?" asked Violet. I honestly wasn't really paying attention to what was going on. The ladies voice had put me in a trance or something. I was listening but I didn't comprehend it. John and Eli seemed to be acting the same way.

"Yea," said Christian, "I think I can. I used to do it to food merchants on the city streets to give us food for free and they would. While I was with Manilore anyway. I did the same thing when Odysseus and Manilore were fighting."

After what seemed ten minutes, I looked out the window we were passing a sign that said 'Welcome to South Carolina.' At the sight of it I snapped out of the trance. I looked around the bus and every single person on it was still there since New York! Maybe even a few more people were there. As I saw them I realized they were under the same trance that I had been in. Only Christian, Violet and I were not affected.

"Do you guys know were we are!" I almost shouted.

"Shhh," Christian said holding his finger to his lips, "She'll hear us."

"So obviously this lady is a monster seeing as we got to _South Carolina!_" I whispered. I was freaking out. "We got on ten minutes ago!"

"No," Violet corrected. I looked at her quizzically, "You think it's only been ten minutes but we've been on this bus for almost th entire day."

"Why didn't we get off?" I asked.

"Because we couldn't even get you guys to move!" Christian said.

"Plus if we did that, we'd draw attention to ourselves. No one has gotten off this bus the entire time." Violet finished. I sat in silence and awe.

"Wake Mary up, Christian and I will work on Eli and John." I ordered. In the back round I herd Mary complain about wanting to sleep more and when I glanced back at them, I saw Violet slap her across the face and tell her to wake up. Man I wished I could do that. I returned to work on John while Christian tried to get Eli to snap out of the trance.

"I've got it!" I exclaimed a little too loud. A few people in front of us turned, stared at us for a moment and turned back. "Christian, you said something about charm squatting or something."

"Charm _speaking_," He corrected, "Yea, why?"

"Here's a good time to try it. Tell them to snap out of it."

He looked hesitant but tried.

"Guys," He began, putting power into his voice, "It's beautiful out, snap out of it and smell the fresh air."

He was doing great, I felt a sudden need to roll down a window and smell the air. He continued speaking and John snapped out of it. Eli snapped out of the trance soon after him. I couldn't believe it worked!

"What's going on?" said Eli

"Where are we?" asked John immediately after him as though they rehearsed it. the Bus started to slowly stop.

"We'll explain later." I said. I looked up at the front of the bus the, weird lady was looking strait at us, standing next to her seat blocking the exit. Suddenly everyone came out of the trance. They looked around and I heard some 'Where are we' and a few 'This isn't New York' from what I could see the lady was grinning.

"I'm so sorry but…" she said as she started taking off her veil. The sudden sound of snakes hissing grew louder. "… But, I have to make a living too."

"Cover your eyes!" I shouted I turned my head away and thank goodness so did the others. In the rows ahead of me I heard a few yells of horror and a sound as if stone was rising out of the ground.

"Aww," Said the woman in a pouty voice, "It seems as though I missed a few."

"Your Medusa!" said John. I hoped he wasn't looking at her. I heard footsteps coming in our direction.

"Ah!" She screamed, "I'm afraid that's my younger sister. She is mortal of coarse and was turned into a gorgon by _his_ mother. I haven't liked Athena since. Why should my sister and I be punished for something that Medusa did? And I should be twice more known than _her_. I killed more than her and my other sister combined."

"That means your Stheno!" I exclaimed.

"So how'd she die?" Violet was almost panicking.

"She didn't," I replied.

"What!" shrieked John.

"She's immortal." I explained.

"Yes quite true. Even though I am still twice as dangerous, plus Gaea granted me newly found gifts of being able to turn people to stone even though we failed in the mission. Anyway, sissy always was better known. I do this every month to keep my record going ahead of my sisters though I used to work at a market place but we'll get to that later. Besides, heroes don't come after me because they all think that I've faded, which lets me lure them in more easily." She said proudly, her snakes sounded deadly and dangerous. As if they were dying to turn us to stone. Suddenly I felt her hand on my shoulder and was tempted to look at her. I squeezed my eyes shut.

"You know you want to see," She taunted, "I know how curious you are." She was charm speaking again.

"Don't look," Christian warned us.

'What are we going to do' I thought. 'Just stand here for all eternity?' I flung my sword off my belt and sliced her. I looked down at my feet and closed my eyes when I realized she wasn't turning into dust. I heard a thump and a lot of hissing.

"Silly boy," she laughed, "I'm immortal, remember?"

"But you're distracted. Run!" I shouted. I ran strait past her and out of the bus. I herd the others following me. I slashed the tires and backed away.

"Mary," I shouted, "Blow that place up with lightning or something!"

"I don't know if I can," she complained.

"Hurry!" I shouted, "Before she gets us."

"Oh for crying out loud!" yelled John as he opened his bag, grabbed a grenade, and threw it inside the bus.

"Run!" screamed Violet. We started running and the suddenly the bus went BOOM! We were all blown into the air and fell with a hard thump. In the background of it all I herd a feint scream. Through the ashes and smoke, I saw Stheno starting to stand up. 'No way!'

"Run in the forest," I ordered and we all left into a deep and damp forest.

We ran until we couldn't see the rode anymore. Violet hugged a tree and sat on its roots. I hooked my sword on the side of my belt but didn't bother to hide it.

"That was a close call," announced Eli.

"A little too close if you ask me," I replied.

"So now what?" asked John.

"Wait," I said, "Why do you have grenades in your bag?"

"In case something happened," he replied.

"Well," I said, "I guess we should find our way out of this forest and then find a ride to California." They all nodded and we started walking. Mary walked faster than the rest of us, almost tripping on everything.

"Do you think she followed us?" asked John. I was sort of happy he started talking to us but the others looked disgusted.

"No," I replied, "I think she's mad at us though."

"Do you think we'll run into any other monsters?" Violet asked.

"Probably," I answered. I didn't like the idea of more monsters coming after us but I knew I had to deal with it.

"Sun's going down," said Eli. I looked around for the sun, but the trees of the forest were so tall and so thick I couldn't even see it.

"Are you sure?" Christian asked.

"Positive. We should probably rest here for the night." Eli said. Mary came strait back after she heard the word rest.

"I'll stay awake and be look out tonight guys." I said. I didn't want to have any more dreams. I was almost afraid to go to sleep. No one argued. They all chose a spot and started snoring. All of them except Eli. He sat next to me near the stump of a tree. I sat down too.

"So we have only six days to get to California?"

"Five. Not including today."

"Perfect," he said sarcastically, "Just great."

"Maybe we could find another bus…"

"No buses from now on!"

"Okay, but we can't go the rest of the way on foot."

"We could take a train or something."

"I don't know. I think…" I started to say but he was already asleep. I sat there in silence and waited for morning.


	6. Christian Finds the Perfect Dog

Chapter 6

Christian Finds the Perfect Dog

Everyone started waking up around eight o' clock. I stood up and stretched while I heard everyone else yawning. Once we were fully awake we all started walking again, even though we had no idea which direction we were going in we just kept going forward. As we walked I had a weird feeling that we were being watched. Every now and then I'd turn around to see if someone was following us.

"Are you ok," Eli asked me, "You're acting paranoid.

"I have a strange feeling we're being watched." I confessed. Eli looked behind us and tuned back to me.

"I do too," he said. The forest seemed to go on forever. In the corner of my eye I saw something move.

"There!" I shouted drawing my sword. Out of a nearby bush, a tiny squirrel crawled out and stared at the tip of my sword. We all burst into laughter but I knew I had seen something else. Something much larger. We started walking again until we saw a huge paw print. I knelt down on one knee to examine it.

"It looks like a wild cat footprint." I said.

"Yea, a _giant_ wildcat." said Violet.

"Maybe six feet tall," I guessed calmly but I was really scared. A six foot tall wildcat! I wondered what kind of food that animal ate.

"Guys," Christian shuttered.

"What," I said. We were all staring at the paw print, but Christian.

"I think it might be ten feet and I think it's a fox." He answered.

"How do you know?" I asked as I examined the paw print more closely. He pointed up and there it was. A ten foot tall, red fox stood in front of us, showing its yellow teeth in hunger. One look at it and we all ran franticly. It waited a while and then started chasing us.

"What is that?" yelled Violet.

"It's the Teumessian Fox, I think," I explained as we ran for our lives, "It was created by Dionysus to get revenge on all of the people of Thebes."

"Where's that?" asked Christian

"Greece," I answered, "Like everything else the location must have moved with Western Civilization. I'm guessing now it would be somewhere in the southwest." After I said that I looked at Eli. At that moment we both realized where Thebes was now and who the Teumessian Fox was after. It was after Eli. So Thebes must now be Phoenix.

"How do we kill it?" asked Eli in horror.

"I don't know," I answered honestly, "No one does. It was made to never be caught."

It sped up and picked Eli up from his back pack. It ran ahead of us.

"Help me!" yelled Eli. We picked up pace but the Teumessian Fox was still way ahead of us.

Suddenly we herd the sound of a howling dog. The Teumessian Fox suddenly dropped Eli. It looked out into the distance behind us and started running in the opposite direction. I turned around to see what it was so scared of. Then I saw a thirteen foot tall dog charging toward us. It jumped over our heads and started chasing the fox. It didn't seem to notice any of us. It ran around Eli and chased the Teumessian Fox. We ran to help Eli to his feet.

"Eli," I said helping him up, "Are you okay?"

"Just…" he said with a grin as he stood up and dusted dirt off his clothes with his hands, "Just perfect."

"What was that thing?" asked John.

"I think it was Laelaps," I answered in awe, "A dog that always caught its prey. One day its owner sent it after the Teumessian Fox."

"So he sent a dog that always caught its prey after a fox that never got caught," said John, "Cool. How'd it turn out?"

"Laelaps chased the Teumessian Fox for years until Zeus and Hera decided to turn them both into stone."

Right after I finished I saw the Teumessian Fox coming back for Eli. Behind it was Laelaps. They were so fast and were a couple miles away.

"Run," I shouted. We all ran once more. However the fox and the hound were gaining on us. They were less than a mile away when I yelled "Stop!" We all came to a halt and I pulled Aspis out of my back pocket. I focused on a shield large enough to go around all of us. The Teumessian Fox sped up leaving Laelaps in the dust. The Teumessian Fox circled the force shield four times when it realized that Laelaps was already here. Laelaps wrestled the Teumessian Fox for three minutes until the fox wiggled out and ran away.

"Stop," said Christian to Laelaps before it could chase after the Teumessian Fox. "Good boy. Now sit." I couldn't tell if Christian was charm speaking or if he was good at training dogs. Laelaps sat immediately, looking sad that it had to stop chasing its prey.

"Good dog," said Christian. Laelaps looked happy about that. I put Aspis back in my back pocket.

Laelaps barked two or three times wagging its tail as if wanting to play.

"We can play later," said Christian, "First, my friends and I were wondering if you could give us a ride to Los Angeles." Laelaps barked and nodded, wagging its tail more than ever.

"Christian," I said as I stared at Laelaps, "You're a genius."

"Well I must be, hearing that from you." He laughed.

We climbed on top of Laelaps. Mary barley fit at the end and I hoped while running that Laelaps would break wind. Christian took the front. Behind Christian was John. Eli sat behind him and I sat behind Eli. Violet sat behind me and grabbed my waist. She was shivering.

"What's wrong," I asked her.

"I'm scared of dogs," she whispered.

"Since when?" I asked.

"Well," she said hesitantly, "You know how I said I ran into only one monster."

"Yea."

"Well, that one monster was a hellhound. It picked me up and shadow traveled all the way to Michigan. I was in Florida! The traveling was so scary and it brought me to an old ware house. Inside were a bunch of hungry baby hellhounds. The babies were the size of a baby horse! I barley escaped with my life."

"Don't worry," I said looking back at her. She was really pretty even though she was scared half to death. I could see why that would make her sacred of dogs. I started wondering how she escaped. I didn't want to ask yet. If she wanted to talk more about it she would have said more. That was probably a touchy subject for her.

With a sudden leap we were moving 50 miles per second. I herd a small scream come out of Violet as she hugged my waist. She put her head against my back and stayed quiet.

In a trip that should have taken half a day took us half a minute. We reached the Mississippi River when we stopped.

"Why'd we stop?" asked John.

"Do you think dogs can run on water?" asked Christian.

We all hoped off and stood there for a while. Laelaps lay on its back and Christian rubbed his belly for a while. Laelaps stood back up and ran back to find the Teumessian Fox.

I looked at the barren beach. There was nothing in sight. Of all places, this was where we were going to get stuck.


	7. John Gets a Yacht

Chapter 7

John Gets a Yacht

"Great," said Mary, "Now what?" I wanted to punch her until she was numb. All she did this entire time was complain. I wished that instead of Laelaps, she would go chase the Teumessian Fox.

"We can't swim all the way there with all this stuff," exclaimed John. Apparently, he was sick of her too.

"Lets walk along the shore," I said," There's bound to be a shop of boats around here somewhere."

We walked for what seemed like forever. If I knew traveling would take this long, I would have just taken the plane. Violet walked over next to me.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Much better," she nodded, "I'm glad we finally got rid of that dog."

"I've been wanting to ask you something," I said, waiting for her approval. She looked at me waiting so I continued, "How did you escape the hellhounds?"

"Well…" I waited, but it seemed like something she was thinking it over, "I… I didn't. I was saved by a few of these kids who had been around the area. I remember them all wearing purple t-shirts. It's weird. I can remember it all so perfectly. After they saved me, they gave me some food and comforted me. They explained to me about demigods. I remember this one boy was really cute. He had black hair and bright sea green eyes. He had a sword and was the one out of two leaders in the group. He…"

"I get it. Can you continue the story?" I said a little frustrated.

"Sorry," she blushed, "Anyway, they said something about the gods and I accidentally said something in ancient Greek. They were shocked and left. Just like that. They spoke another language too but I couldn't tell what it was. Whoever they were they weren't from Camp Half-Blood."

She suddenly became quiet. I knew who those kids were from though. I remember Chiron saying something about another camp for Roman demigods. I know that the Roman gods and Greek gods are the same except that the Roman gods are more warlike. I didn't get the name of the camp though, or where it was. Without realizing it, we were holding hands.,

"I knew it!" said Christian excitedly running right between us.

"Knew what?" I asked.

"You two really like each other. I mean, like like each other."

"Ew! No! We're just friends," I said, hoping that I wasn't blushing.

"Yea," said Violet, her face got a little red.

"Believe me," said Christian, "My dad is the god of love. I know when people like each other."

"Shut up," said Violet.

"I'm just saying," he said holding his hands up in surrender.

Eli and John came over and joined us, Mary kept walking behind.

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Eli.

"Nothing," said Christian.

"Hey," shouted John, pointing ahead, "Finally! A bunch of boats."

We all looked ahead and sure enough there they were. A dock filled with row boats, yachts, and speed boats. We ran onto the dock and stared at all of them.

"Let's get a yacht," said Eli.

"We don't have enough money." I said, looking back at the small log cabin at the start of the dock. Inside the window I saw a plump, hairy, little man. He had a grim face and was glaring at us. He started walking out the door and toward us.

"Get in!" said John. Everyone jumped in except me and John who started untying the rope that connected the boat to the dock.

"We can't just steal a yacht!" I shouted. The guy started running slowly, as he cursed about stupid kids.

"Yes we can," said John.

"We don't even have a key!" I shouted again. He stared at me for a moment, finished untying the rope and pushed me into the boat.

Except I missed the boat. By the time he pushed me, the boat had moved. I fell with a large splash and Violet and Eli started trying to help me onto the boat while I heard a few grunts on the deck. I didn't bother to look because I couldn't get in the boat. Once they got a hold of me, they accidentally dropped me. John jumped on holding a pair of keys in his hand. I glanced back and saw the grim little man lying in pain on the floor.

"Come on," I shouted, "Help me on!"

"We're trying!" shouted Eli.

The boat started and John leaned over, grabbed my hands, and pulled me up. We started moving out into the Mississippi River. I stood up, dripping wet from head to toe. I looked behind us and I saw the man as he stood up and started yelling a bunch of swears.

"How'd you get me up so quickly?" I asked.

"No man left behind. Some of the Ares kids have an ability to make sure of that, unless they can't help him or her." said John.

"Thanks," I murmured.

"No problem," He replied.

I looked on the second floor of the yacht and saw John take the wheel from Christian. I dried off a bit and sat on the inside part of the boat. Violet and Eli came in a sat next to me. I was right in the middle.

"I can't believe we stole a yacht." said Eli, putting his hands behind his head in a proud manner. He turned and looked at us with a smile from ear to ear.

"I wouldn't be so proud." said Violet.

"Come on," he said almost laughing.

"I have to agree with Violet on this one," I said.

"You guys are no fun," he said laughing, putting his hands back down.

Christian came down and we all hung out together. After about two minutes the boat stopped and John came down.

"What happened? Are we there already?" asked Christian

"A fog is rolling in," he replied, sitting down by us. We were starting to run out spots to sit.

"Soon we'll barley see a thing, so I turned the boat off and we're going to stop until it goes away. We're really close but I don't want to crash into a dock or something," said John.

"Where's Mary?" asked Eli.

"She staying up there," John said, shrugging his shoulders.

We talked and joked around for a while. It was fun being able to just hang out.

Suddenly, we herd a scream coming from outside. We ran up there and saw Mary staring at the water.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I saw something in the water," she stuttered.

"It was probably a fish," said John.

Just then, I saw something huge surface the water for a split second. Apparently the others saw it too because they all stood there with their mouths wide open. Suddenly the boat shook.

"What was that?" Violet shuttered.

Then, the water gave a huge splash and a wall of water was surrounding the boat. There was a soft singing in the background. In front of us, I could make out a blurred image of a woman waist up, and a _fish_ waist down. Almost like a dolphin tail, except it was green. She had black hair, going down to her waist and deep blue eyes.

"Hello," she said in a sweet and innocent voice. I looked at Christian and his face told me she wasn't charm speaking.

"I must know…" she said.

"Must know what?" I asked scared half to death. She was pretty and scary all at the same time.

"Is Alexander the Great still alive?" she asked. I suddenly knew who she was. She's Alexander's half sister, Thessalonike, she was turned into a mermaid after throwing herself into the ocean as attempted suicide.

"No," Mary said before I could answer, "He died, like, a bazzilion years ago. Where have you been?"

"Mary, you idiot!" I shouted at her. I looked back and the mermaid wasn't little anymore. She was hideous now.

"Wrong answer!" The mermaid cried in anger.

She lifted her hands and the fog twirled around her. It started to hail and the waves became violent. Usually this would be impossible for a river, but then again… welcome to my world. The world of impossibilities.

The hail became huge clumps of ice as they fell violently from the sky. They fell almost all the way through the floor of the boat. Over the sound of Violet and Mary screaming, and the roars of thunder, I herd the mermaid laughing at us. John ran to the wheel, but right before he grabbed it, a huge clump of hail broke it off!

"I'm usually hanging around in the Gulf of Mexico and go around the Atlantic Ocean but when I saw that this many half-bloods were traveling so close, I couldn't resist." She chuckled.

"Wait!" I shouted to her, "I know the right answer. Alexander is alive and rules the world."

"If only you said that first. Then I'd let you go." She said with a broad grin that ran from cheek to cheek.

We started spinning down the Mississippi River towards the Gulf of Mexico. She was doing this so she could unleash her full wrath on us. The boat spun, and rocked, and made me nauseous. The boat was falling apart. We all found our way to each other by where the steering wheel used to be.

Violet and Mary screamed their heads off while Eli, Christian, John and I simply yelled. The boat shook really hard and we had to keep crawling back into a group.

Then the boat lunged into the air, flipped upside down, and dropped into the water. We all held onto something on the boat as it turned sideways and was still tossing and tuning in the water. The mermaid laughed louder and louder. We were, for sure, now in the Gulf of Mexico. John and I climbed to the side of the boat that was out of water. Together, we helped up the others and held on to each other. I felt like I was on the Titanic, or at least in the movie.

"Guys," I shouted over the wind, "We half to jump before the yacht starts sinking. Otherwise it would pull us under with it."

"Are you nuts?" screamed Violet, "The waves are way too harsh."

"This might be the only chance we've got though," I shouted.

"Fine," Violet said reluctantly.

"On the count of three," I said, "One two three!"

We all jumped and started swimming franticly. I saw a calm shore far in front of us as we swam. I kept swimming until I felt something suddenly hit my head really hard. I fainted and thought that the shore, in the short distance, was going to be the last thing I ever saw.


	8. We Meet Mother Dearest

**A/N: I've noticed that no one is reveiwing. please review!**

Chapter 8

We Get to Meet Mother Dearest

"Is he awake?" asked someone. Their voice echoed as though they were in a cave.

It was dark and I couldn't see a thing. It stayed dark until I realized my eyes were closed. I opened my eyes to find myself staring at the stars in the sky. I sat strait up and saw the dark eerie water. It was the calmness and peacefulness that made it scary. I stood up and suddenly someone jumped onto my back and held me tight.

"Who is this?" I yelled, flinging my arms around like a puppet, "Get off of me! Who is this?"

"Relax," said the person, sliding off my back. I turned around to see Violet. She hugged me for a while and then I saw John behind her.

"What happened?" I asked, "Last thing I remember I got hit in the head with hail or something."

"John saved you," said Violet.

"We both did," John corrected, "But that's how we got separated from the others."

"Why didn't you guys go look for them?" I asked.

"We were going to but we didn't want to leave you here. And if one of us stayed behind to watch you the other could've gotten lost," explained Violet.

Behind them were a few palm trees and a forest. The sand was very loose and soft. Even though it was the middle of the night it was pretty hot. I looked down at my clothes and realized that they had already dried off. Under one of the palm trees of the thick rain forest were our bags and weapons. Hanging loose out of my bag was a plastic baggie of drachmas. Then, something clicked.

"Guys," I said, "Why didn't you just Iris message them? If you did, Violet could've teleported us there."

"Argh," said Violet as she slapped her forehead, "Why didn't I think of that!"

I grinned and got out a drachma out of my bag. Violet tapped her bracelet into a shield and created a rainbow. I gave her the drachma and she set the shield on the floor. The rainbow became the size of a full-grown man and we all stood before it.

"Mother, Goddess of the Rainbow, Please except my offering," Violet said as she threw the golden coin into the rainbow, "Show me Eli, Mary and Christian."

The rainbow shimmered and we saw Eli and Christian along with two other kids standing around a camp fire. One was a boy who was a little shorter that Eli. He had a black skull t-shirt on and jeans, the bangs of his light brown hair swooped to one side; the same way I usually wear mine, but his was straighter. Sadly, John used to call it Justin Beiber hair. I resented it every time he would say that. Standing next to the boy was an eight year old girl who had black shoulder length hair and a small black dress with white ruffles along the sleeves and the edge of the bottom of the dress.

"Jake look!" said the little girl, pointing at us with one hand and tugging on Jack's shirt with the other.

"Guys!" shouted Eli and Christian when they saw us.

"Where have you been?" asked John.

"These guys saved us," said Christian, pointing to the two kids next to them. The girl slowly hid behind the boy.

"You're never going to believe what happened, you see…" started Christian.

"Hold on a sec, k," I cut him off, "You guys have everything?"

"Yep," said John handing me my backpack. He put one of the straps from his bag around his shoulder and gripped his sword firmly in his hands. I made sure my sword was still with me too. Once I was sure that I still had everything, we lined up, with Violet in the front.

"Ready," asked Violet, but she didn't wait for an answer. She just ran through the rainbow dragging us along with her.

There was a flash of random colors and suddenly John and I were behind Violet, who was leaning over with her hands on her knees. Her shield lay out in front of her.

We were in the middle of the forest. The trees seemed to make a perfect small circle around the area. The little girl was now completely behind the boy who I assumed was named Jake.

"Hey, do you guys know where Mary is?" I asked after a moment of silence.

"No," answered Eli immediately, "She ran off into the woods as soon as she got on land."

"Violet," said Christian, "Why didn't you just do the rainbow teleport thing from the start? It would have saved us a lot of time!"

"Don't you think that if I could, I would have?" said Violet, "The distance between Long Island and Los Angelus would kill me!"

"Oh," said Christian a little embraced.

"Ok, lets IM Mary, see where she is," I said. Violet gave me an evil look, "We won't teleport this time," I reassured her.

"Good," she said relieved.

She grabbed her shield, took my drachma and threw it into the rainbow the shield created.

"Oh Mother, Goddess of the rainbow," she said softly, "Please except my offering."

She threw the coin in, but the rainbow just flowed back into the shield and flung the coin back into my hands. I put the coin back and looked at Violet.

"I don't get it," said Violet as she tapped the shield back into a bracelet.

"Maybe she was busy," shrugged Eli.

"Too busy for her own daughter?" asked Violet. She seemed hurt by that concept.

"Or," I said, "Or maybe Mary is blocking the message, She has hated being around us. Maybe she's just trying to go home."

"Maybe," murmured Violet.

"Either way," I said, "We don't have time to go looking for her. We have to get to Los Angelus soon."

"How?" asked Violet, "We have no transportation…"

"Excuse me," said Jake, "Hi, who are you again?"

"Sorry," I said, "I'm Odysseus, and this is John and Violet."

"I'm Jake and this is my little sister Alice."

"These guys don't have any family or anything," said Christian, "They're like how I used to be. They just go around."

"Actually," said Jake, "We do know this one lady who took care of us for a while. She lives really near by. I think she has a car and could drive you guys to a train station or something."

"Perfect," said Christian.

We got our things together and Jake and Alice lead the way to a small town where the houses were cramped up next to each other. We stopped at a house that was long and narrow. It had boarders on the window and parts of the roof and walls had been either broken or it had withered away.

"Are you sure this is the place," I asked with a small gulp.

"Yep," said Alice. Her meek voice seemed as though she were remembering something horrifying. Maybe she knew something that Jake didn't.

"Aunt El?" asked Jake looking down the two narrow hallways, "Are you here? Aunt El?"

About three doors down the left side of the right hallway an old short and plump woman came out holding a dish as if she were suddenly ready to eat. Her hair was up in a messy bun and a sort of bluish gray color. She had a pink apron with white polka-dots running down her white and blue striped dress.

"Alice, Jake," she exclaimed as she ran to give them hugs. She seemed friendly but a little too friendly. I mean, how many people do you know who lets street kids into their home?

"Aunt El," Jake exclaimed back. Alice just stood there as Aunt El hugged them.

"And are these new friends?" asked Aunt El as she passed in between Jake and Alice to study us.

"Yep," said Alice.

"Oh, how nice," Aunt El said, "Well what brings the two of you back here? Oh and why'd you leave?"

"You see," said Jake, "Our friends need to get to California and we hoped that you could give them a ride there since you have a car and everything."

"Oh," she said as she thought about her decision, "Yes, of course. We'll leave right after dinner."

"What are we having?" asked Jake enthusiastically.

"I'm cooking Tilapia and it's just about done." Aunt El answered.

Jake and Alice helped Aunt El set the table and we all began to eat. The tilapia tasted really fresh, as though it had just been caught.

"So," said Aunt El as she chewed a mouthful of tilapia, "Why are you kids heading to California all by yourself?"

"We where driving with our class for a field trip," I said after a short silence, "And the bus had accidentally left without us."

"Is that so?" she said, "So what school do you go to?"

"Oh," I said as I tried to think of an answer, "Our school is pretty far away so you probably have never heard of it."

"I see," she answered slyly.

"Yes," said Eli, finally the good liar started talking, "It was horrible when the bus left. We were sitting at the back of the bus on the way here so no one probably noticed. We were so shocked we just started walking to our destination. Luckily we ran into Jake and Alice here and they brought us to you. I truly hope you can take us there."

"Actually I'm still a little hungry," said Aunt El, "And I'm not sure I can drive on an empty stomach."

She stood up and started licking her lips and looked hungrily at us. Then she grinned and I noticed for the first time that all of her teeth where super sharp. Alice jumped out of her chair and ran toward the door. Aunt El leaped across the table and slammed the door shut in the blink of an eye. Alice gave out a little shriek.

"Where do you think your going?" Aunt El said as she licked her lips again.

By now everyone was out of their seat. Aunt El looked less human by the minute. Her face started to become pointed at her nose and her skin on the top of her head turned the same bluish-gray as her hair. Her arms and legs were also bluish-gray and her hands and feet were webbed. Behind her a shark tail grew and grew until it was about four feet long. Jake grabbed Alice and pulled her away from Aunt El.

"Stay away from her," I said, "She eats children."

"How would you know?" asked Jake.

"Beside the fact that she just turned into a humanoid shark," I said, "Her name's Lamia."

"Very good," she said, "Now, who's first?"

We all got our weapons ready.

"Aw," She said, "Now do we really have to fight. You remind me so much of my children. They were demigods too you know."

"You had children?" exclaimed Christian, "Where they shark-people too?"

"Less talking more fighting!" John shouted as he ran, with his sword held high, toward Lamia. But Lamia was too quick for him. She swallowed him in one gulp. We all gasped.

Then Christian ran up to her to attack. She gulped him up too. Violet, Eli, Alice, Jake, and I were left. She leaped at us and instantaneously I grabbed Aspis and made a shield so big it blew her through the wall and into the next room. Eli took out his bow and arrows and shoot five arrows at her at the same time. She swirled around all of the arrows and tried again to get us but my shield kept her away.

"Come here kiddies." She taunted.

"Give our friends back," said Jake. His eyes where filled with anger. "They're not dead. Give them back now!"

She looked at him quizzically and I used that as an opportunity. I charged Lamia and slashed my sword at her head. She turned into the biggest pile of dust I had ever seen.

Then there was a sudden moaning sound. Eli, Jake and I started digging and found everyone and a few extra other kids too. The other kids, however, were motionless and lifeless.

"Wow," said Eli, "She really had children?"

"Yea, children of Zeus," I answered, "Hera got angry again and forced her to eat her children and in rage she ran around thieving other mothers of their children."

"What a pleasant story," answered Eli, "What about these guys? Are they dead too now?"

"They're not dead," said Jake, "I can feel it."

"That's weird," said Alice, "I can feel it too. That must be what I felt the night I made you run away with me from this place."

"You mean," said Jake, "you somehow knew about Aunt El, I mean Lamia?"

"Yea," said Alice.

Suddenly out of no where a silhouette of a skull with crossing bones faded above their heads. The room became cold and I found myself kneeling with the others.

"What are you guys doing…" started to ask Jake but Alice tugged at his shirt.

"Jake, look" she said looking at the eerie skull that waved like a pirate flag abouve her head.

Jake looked up with a gasp.

"What does this mean? Are we dead?" asked Jake still staring at the skull in awe.

"You are the children of Hades," I answered, "This is a sign. You guys have to accompany us on our journey. We need to get to the underworld. The home of your dad."

I explained to them the basics of being a demigod and the purpose of this quest.

"I still don't understand why you need our help," said Jake.

"Since you guys are children of Hades you will know the underworld better than anyone," I answered, "I know you can control the dead because you could sense whether or not the others had died."

We got up and Eli started telling them the basics of being a half-blood. They continued their discussion.

"Violet come with me," I whispered to her. We snuck out of the room and into a different one.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I need you to IM Chiron," I said handing her a drachma.

Violet sent an IM to Chiron. As soon as I saw him I didn't even give him time to say hi.

"Chiron," I said, "I need you to tell us about the Roman Camp Half-Blood."

"Why?" he asked.

"Because we're going to need their help to help Hades." I responded.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"I just need their help."

"Alright," He responded, "But I caution you, they won't just let you in unless either I'm there or it's an emergency and to them a thirteen year old boy who needs help isn't an emergency. You'll need to defeat them in battle. Maybe all of them."

"I already knew that. I remember you talking about it with Mr. D. All I need is the location and a child of Hephaestus by tomorrow mourning."


	9. Keep on Going

Chapter 9

Keep on Going

I woke up to snoring the next mourning. I sat up and tried to pinpoint who was snoring so I could whack them with my pillow. But to my shock no one in that room was snoring. I grabbed my sword and quietly walked into the hall way. I peered out the door and saw no one. I took a step forward but ended up with my face on the floor. Something had tripped me. I got up as quickly as I could and spun around to find out what had tripped me. There, still lying on the floor, was a boy who was still fast asleep and had some sort of tinker toy in his hand. I could tell who it was right away from the boy's long curly black Jew-fro and slightly pale skin. It was a boy named Lucas Martello from the Hephaestus cabin. I kneeled down next to him and gently put down my sword. I put my hand on his shoulder as gently as possible and began to slap him until he woke up.

"Hey what the heck!" he shouted waking everyone else up.

"Quite snoring, you're keeping us up."

"Odysseus? What are you doing in my cabin? Wait," he said as he stood up, "This isn't cabin nine. Where am I?"

"Chiron didn't tell you about the mission?" I asked.

"What the heck is going on?" asked John.

"Where am I?" Lucas asked again, "Yes he told me about the quest and I did except and all but I fell asleep in my comfy cabin. Where am I?"

"You're in a monster's old house," answered Eli.

"What!" shouted Lucas.

"Don't worry we killed it," I said and gave Eli a stern look.

"Right," said Lucas, "And who are they."

"Children of Hades," I said and then I explained everything. I knew he didn't know what he was going to build. No one knew except Chiron, Violet and I. I was going to explain it to them when it was the right time. By the looks of his bag it seemed like Chiron got him everything he needed. He even got him the perfect weapon and tool for what we needed to build. An Axe that was made of celestial bronze lay next to his bag. In his bag were a few small extra tools just incase. We all hung out for an hour and then I grabbed my bag and told the others that we had to keep moving.

I walked outside and saw the small neighborhood for the first time in the light. It was sort of nice actually. Nowhere you'd expect a monster to live. But what really caught my eye were two little kids playing by a mailbox that said the name: Owlet. Suddenly something clicked. I remember Chiron telling me something. Something about my dad and I remember the name beginning with the letters O w. I never got to hear the full name because I ran outside to meet Eli. I was eight so I guess that I didn't have a long attention span when I was younger. Anyway, I knew that my dad lived in southern U.S. Maybe Texas or maybe New Mexico. Anyway, I had to make sure. I mean come on, how many last names start with the letters O w. Everyone else was still getting ready and I thought it would only take a minute.

I put my bag and sword on the floor and walked up to the little house. Without knocking I walked inside. My heart was pounding. I've always wanted to meet my dad and I wondered what he was like. Inside there had to be at least a dozen crosses on the wall. Was he scared or vampires or something? There he was, sitting on a couch watching basketball on the smallest TV in the world. The couch was facing the other way so all I saw was the back of his head which had maybe one or two locks of hair that was pulled to the side in attempt to look like he had thn those two locks, he was bald.

"Hello?" I asked, "Mr. Owlet."

He spun around, and showed the smallest resemblance of my face.

"Who are you?" he asked coldly.

"My name is Odysseus," I said, "I was wondering if you dropped a two year old boy at a camp in New York eleven years ago."

"Why do you ask?" he slowly asked as he stood up and put his hands on his hips.

"Because I think…" I started to say but I choked for a moment, "I think I was that boy."

"No," he said and my hopes fell into the underworld and below, "No. that boy was a figment of my imagination."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean I never met Athena. It was all just a nightmare, a dream that started good but ended horribly."

"I don't understand."

"She left me and sent me a little boy. I know that you were that little boy. I can just tell. You still have the same nose as you did when you were little... Wait, never mind, by then I had already woken up. There are no such things as Greek gods. Only one, and he sent our one and only savior, Jesus. Athena isn't real and neither are you."

"But…" I said, "But dad I'm right here."

"No this is just another dream now get out of my house."

"But dad…"

"I said get out!"

"Dad, please…"

"You're not real! Get out!"

"I am real. Dad I am real!"

"No you're not!" He said and then he literally threw me out. "Kids get inside right now! That child is not real do you hear me! He's not real!" the small children ran inside and my dad… Mr. Owlet slammed the door.

I looked up at Lamia's house and saw John, Violet, Eli and Christian running over to me.

"Odysseus, are you ok?" asked Violet as she helped me up.

"Who was that?" asked John who looked as though he was going to run in the house and slit his throat.

"He's no one." I answered.

"Then why'd you go in his house?" asked Eli.

"Because I wanted to meet my father."

I left it at that and walked back to Lamia's house where Lucas, Jake and Alice were all staring at me. I picked up my things and heard Christian say: "That's his dad?"

I silently prayed to my mom. _Why?_ I asked her. _How could you love him?_ I felt mentally ill. In a way it scared me. I now knew what it was like to be scared for life. I had only gotten to see my father for a few horrible minutes. I thought about the prophecy. I was the one who would live in forever pain, but I wouldn't let this bring me down. It stung, yes, but I had to keep on moving.

"So why did you need me on this quest anyway," asked Lucas, "Chiron never said a reason."

"Because…" I thought of a different reason other than my true plan; I wasn't ready for everyone to know yet. I was still working out the details of the plan in my head.

"Because," said Violet, "We need to drive and none of us know how so we need you to."

"What makes you assume that I know how to drive?" interrogated Lucas.

"A; because you're the son of Hephaestus, so you can work any machinery," I answered, "and B… well there is no b but do we really need another reason? Now let's go."

"Works for me," Lucas murmured.

We walked cluttered into the garage and I must say that I was shocked. I had expected some rusty, run-down Buggy or something but what we found was completely different. Inside was a brand new, shiny, black truck. We opened the garage door and piled in the car. Lucas took the wheel and Eli sat in the passenger seat. Violet and John got the window seat while I sat in between them. Christian, Alice, and Jake sat in the trunk.

"So," asked Lucas, "Where are we headed?"

"Phoenix," I answered right away.

"But I thought…" Violet started to say but I gave her a look that told her to shut up.

"We're going to Eli's house," I concluded.

"Ok then," said Lucas, he started the car and started driving smoothly down the rode.

"Eli," I said, "I need you to manipulate the mist so cops don't pull us over and send us to juvenile prison."

"K," he answered and he snapped his fingers together and there was a sudden blow in the wind.

As we left the small town I stared out the back window and tried to turn my eyes from my dad's house. But eventually the town was out of sight and I looked ahead. The streets were barren and I wondered where we were.

"Hey, Jake," I said, "Where are we anyway?"

"Southern Texas I think." he answered.

After half an hour, all of our stomachs growled in unison. We were running out of money so we decided to stop at the nearest McDonalds. Which was an easy pick because you can find that place anywhere you go. I had never really eaten McDonalds though. I always ate at the mess hall at camp and no where else. We pulled up to the nearest one and we all ordered happy meals. I wanted to keep as much money as we could. I wasn't like we had a whole lot to spend and there were a lot of us. We ate in the car and kept driving until sunset. But Eli insisted that we kept going and that we were almost there. We pulled into his driveway around midnight. We quietly got out of the car and rang the doorbell. The door opened to Eli's mom, Miss Bask. She wore a light purple robe with sky blue sweats underneath. Her brown hair was tangled and knotted but when she saw Eli she smiled like the sunrise had woken her to a miracle.


	10. Eli's Mom and a Python

**A/N: So, Lastapter was WAY too long plus they had pretty much differnt sections in it so I cut it in half. sorry.**

Chapter 10

Eli's Mom and a Python

"Eli?" said Miss Bask, "What are you doing here?"

"Hi mom," said Eli as he ran in to hug her.

"I hope you don't mind but I was wondering if we could stop here for the night." I asked, "I promise that we'll explain everything."

"Sure Odysseus," she said with a friendly smile, "But I don't think I'll have enough beds for all of you."

"We could sleep on the floor or something. We'll be fine with it" said John quickly.

"Oh, hello John. This is a bit unexpected. I didn't think you and Eli were friends."

"We are," said Eli, "He's actually pretty awesome."

John seemed to be… happy. He seemed to like being someone's friend.

"And who are these three. I've never met them before." Asked Miss Bask.

"This is Christian, Jake, and Alice," answered Eli.

"Nice to meet you," she said with another welcoming smile.

She brought us inside and all of the boys stayed in Eli's room. Most of us either slept on the desk, in the chair or on the floor. Meanwhile Violet and Alice stayed in the living room.

That night I had another dream.

It was really brief though. I saw Mary running as fast as she could through a statue of Cerberus but then the legs moved. 'Hold up! That's really Cerberus, which means she's already in the underworld. How'd she get there so fast' I wondered but I didn't have time to think about it. She ran past a long line of people and entered the Judgment Pavilion. She's obviously still alive though so why would she need to go there? She walked up to the three judges.

"Hey! What are you doing here? I'm sorry but its dead only." said Radamanthus.

"Whatever," she said. But she wasn't whining. She sounded cold and strict, "Have Odysseus and his friends come through here yet?"

"Well yes," He said, "They came about a million years ago. Didn't you read the Odyssey?"

"No, Not that one!" she shouted, "Sir. I meant the demigod born to Athena."

"Oh that one," he said as he looked through billions of papers, "No, he hasn't."

"Can you tell me where he is?" she asked. Was she really trying to find us? No, she would just want to complete the quest and go back, looking like a hero. If only she knew what I was really trying to find out.

"No," he said, "I know where the dead are. It's not in my job description to know where the living are too. Now get outa' here."

As she left she whipped her hair so it seemed more dramatic but she just looked stupid. She ran past the field of Asphodel and toward Hades' palace. Half way there she stopped and turned to a huge cave. Her eyes were filled with fear. I could barley make out a voice calling her name as she slowly started walking in the cave.

At that point I woke up to hear Miss Bask calling us for breakfast. We walked to the kitchen to find waffles and pancakes everywhere. We all rushed for a plate and filled it to the greatest extent. It had been a while since we all ate good food. Not that the Tilapia at Lamia's house was bad but… Yea it was the worst fish I had ever eaten, even if it was fresh. However the waffles and pancakes where delicious. While we ate, Eli told his mom what we were doing and I saw Miss Bask signal me to come join them.

"Thank you for breakfast, Miss Bask it was wonderful," I said.

"Thanks," she said half-heartedly, "Odysseus, I understand you've lived your entire life in Camp Half-Blood and… Eli and I were wondering if you'd like to stay with us over the winter, and come to school with Eli."

"I… I…" I tried to find the right words to say, "I would love to! Oh thank you so much, Miss Bask, I promise I won't be a bother."

"Alright then It's settled," She said, "Make sure you verify this with Chiron though."

"We will," answered Eli. He seemed as excited about this as I was. We helped Miss Bask with the dishes and started getting ready to head out. As a thank you we gave Miss Bask the car we borrowed and she was thrilled and offered us a ride to LA. We gratefully accepted and gathered our things together. I thought over my dream and wondered what part of the underworld she was about to enter. She looked terrified and I couldn't figure out why. I needed more information. If only I had stayed asleep a little bit longer. There was a sudden shriek from the garage. Eli and I ran in to see a fifteen foot python trying to strangle Eli's mom.

"Get off of her!" Eli shouted as he grabbed his spear. With this he commanded the light to blind the serpent. As a result it slowly slithered off of Miss Bask who was now unconscious. I grabbed her by the arms and John rushed in to help me carry her back into the house.

"Come on we have to help him," said Christian as he started toward the garage.

"No. this isn't some ordinary python!" I shouted.

"What do you mean?" asked Jack.

"I think this is a descendent of the python that lived at Delphi," I said, "Hera sent it to kill Apollo's mother so he killed it. As a result only children of Apollo can kill it."

"That doesn't mean we can't help!" said Violet as she also tried to enter the garage.

"You don't understand!" I pulled her back, "To kill this creature is an ancient crime. Eli will have to purify himself once it's killed."

I turned and watched the python try to lunge at Eli. It was so fast but Eli was somehow faster. He was about to strike the serpent with his spear but Python whipped it out of his hand. He grabbed his bow and arrow from his backpack as he dodged the Python and shot its head, but it continued to wrestle him. I could tell it was dying though. The python has to give into death to die. The quarrel between Eli and the huge serpent continued. Eli was starting to weaken as well. He reached for his spear but it was too far out of reach. I wanted to help him but I knew that he had to do it alone. In desperation he flung his bow from his hand and struggled to grab another arrow from his backpack. Python was slowly enclosing him. He finally reached an arrow and stabbed the python again. It hissed and suddenly turned into a huge pile of dust. Eli limped back into the house, doused with dust.

"That was…" he said as he tried to catch his breath. "Hard."

"I shouldn't have let you do that," I said.

"What… are you… talking about?" Eli asked.

"Python is a child of Gaea. You have to be purified," I answered.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well," I said, "I'm not sure as to what you would have to do now days, but Apollo had to serve a king for nine years." I answered.

"What!" He shouted.

"The purification might have changed though."

"Oh gods," he said. He had suddenly regained his strength but he looked stressed. This quest was going horribly. The underworld seems like its condition is getting worse and worse, we have no form of transportation, and Eli had to be purified somehow. John and I lay Miss bask on the couch and we all went into Eli's backyard. I had to say, his backyard was very nice. Eli sat at the edge of a large lake and a flock of swans came out of nowhere. We all looked up at the beautiful sight. As they flew near the sun I saw a chariot being pulled by huge swans. Inside the chariot was a young adult with shaggy blond hair. He wore a white shirt with a blue jean jacket and a pair of jeans. Judging by his resemblance to Eli, I guessed it was Apollo. The swans were also a dead giveaway to his identity. Eli backed away from the lake and we all grouped together.

The swans landed in extreme grace and Apollo clicked a button on his keys. The chariot suddenly changed into a red Ferrari.

"Hey kiddo," he said as he got out off his car.

"Dad?"

"Yep, nice to see yah." Apollo said. He gave Eli hug and put his hands on his shoulders.

"Listen kiddo," he said with care in his eyes, "I'm here to tell you what you have to do to be purified. You and you friends have to complete this quest, and you'll be off the hook."

"Really?" asked Eli, "Just like that?"

"Yep," Apollo said, "Usualy you'd have to be some snobs intern but your friends need you for this quest. I mean this is big. So do well. Oh, I almost forgot."

Apollo walked back to his car and grabbed something from the passenger seat. He walked back to Eli with a small gold plate of ash in his hand. He put the plate in Eli's hand and the ash began to grow red. The plate turned into a bird cage and from the ash came a small bird. It was red, and yellow with a purple tail.

"What is this?" asked Eli.

"That is one of my beautiful creations," Apollo said, "That is a phoenix."

"Really?" asked Eli.

"Yep and it's all yours, now," he said, "Her name is Sunshine."

"Dad," Eli said, "I can't accept this."

"Please," Apollo said, "I have a whole bunch more at home. This little birdie will last you a whole five hundred years so take good care of her."

"Thanks Dad," said Eli.

Apollo gave Eli a hug and walked back to his car.

"Apollo," I said, "Before you leave. I need to ask you something."

"Sure," he said.

"Why are you giving him a chance to be purified, just by completing a quest?"

"Because, you guys are going to need as many team mates you can find," he said, "This quest…it's the start of something new. It's not just repeating itself like the titan and giant wars. Something much larger than remakes is being created. In a sense this quest is your purification."

And with that he calmly got back into his car and drove off.

It was strange how he could come in and out of Eli's life so calmly. As if it didn't matter that much.

From behind us Miss bask called us inside. We didn't bother to tell her what happened. Without much discussion we piled into the truck. I felt like Atlas, as though I was carrying the whole world on my shoulders. We had only two days to stop Kronos from rising. Gaea was wise to let him rebuild in secret for ten years. Of course if it wasn't in secret it would have only taken four years. I now knew that it didn't matter because no matter how hard we may try. We didn't have enough time. No. Eli depends on this mission to be purified. We had to do this.


	11. Crushes

**A/N: Please review! please please please!**

Chapter 11

Crushes

We all stood at the train station as John paid for tickets. Everyone pitched in and we waited for the next train to San Francisco. Eli and I both agreed that driving would take to long, so Miss Bask dropped us off here and drove home in her new car.

"Well," John said as he returned with all of the tickets, "We're almost out of money but we'll be in San Francisco in no time."

"Why are we going there again?" asked Christian.

"Because…" I was hesitant but I told everyone everything I hadn't told them before.

"So that's why you needed me," said Lucas.

"Yes," I said, "Like I said before, while we're fighting the Roman Half-Bloods you'll be working on our secret weapon. We'll win the same way the Greeks won the Trojan War, and that was before Lupa was around so she won't know about it." After a long silence the train we had been waiting for pulled into the station and we all climbed aboard. We sat at the back in hope no one would overhear our conversation, incase we had one. We sat in silence. Eli tended to Sunshine while Lucas started making a miniature prototype of our secret weapon out of a small piece of wood. Violet and Alice fixed each others hair and Christian looked around the room, waiting to be ambushed by another monster. I had almost forgotten that he had pink eyes which scanned to room. John and I went over the battle strategy. I told him about the plan that I had created and he seemed to be all for it. Jake sat alone.

"Jake, are you ok?" I asked.

"I'm fine," He answered, "But how am I going to help in the battle without a weapon?"

I had almost forgotten about that. He didn't have full control of his powers yet so he couldn't summon the dead for help and even if he did the titans would know where we were. Violet was going to use Eli's bow and arrows for the battle and that was the only other weapon he brought except his spear.

"I'm sure we'll find you a weapon," I said doubtfully.

"No," he said as his hands curled into fists, "Weapons don't just come out o the ground."

"We can have Lucas make you one," John said.

"No," He said again, "He needs to build that stupid thing for your stupid strategy."

"Jake, calm down," I said, "You have great power and you don't want anger to control that power, the results could be disastrous."

"I refuse to just hand back and watch my little sister," Jake said.

"No one said you had to," I tried to calm him down, "Jake…"

But suddenly the light went out and the train stopped. A small portion of the floor glowed silver. No one else on the train seemed to notice but us. From the ground came a silver sword of Stygian Iron. John reached to touch it but I grabbed his wrist.

"Don't touch it or you'll die," I said, "Literally. Only children of Hades can hold it."

Jake reached out for it hesitantly and grabbed it.

"I guess you've got a weapon now huh?" said John.

"Thanks dad," Jake murmured. The light went back on and the train continued.

"_I'm sorry folks but it seems that we'll be a few minutes late to our arrival."_ said the arouser.

A few adults groaned and complained to themselves about their busy schedule. As if one minute more of waiting would be the end of the world. Jack hooked his sword onto his belt and sat with a slight grin on his face as he looked down.

"Jake, you'll have to be careful with that," I warned, "We don't want to kill the roman campers, so make sure that never touches their skin."

"I'll be careful," he said as he admired his newly found weapon.

"Jake this is serious," I said, he looked at me like I was a nag. "Just one touch of that iron and a person will either be sucked into it or disintegrate," I continued.

"Alright," He almost shouted, "Just calm down."

"Okay," I said in surrender. I didn't need to deal with him. He was starting to act like a brat and I would deal with him later.

John and I continued our strategy and Lucas had me approve his mini-prototype.

Then Violet came over to John and I.

"Hey Odysseus," she said, "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure," I said. I sat there and waited for her to say something but all she did was look uncomfortable.

"Alone," She said.

Without delay John stood up and sat next to Jake. Violet plopped into the seat and I waited for her to speak again.

"So…" I said, "What's up?"

"Kay," she said, "So, as you know, I met some of the roman campers. You know, one of them was the boy I liked."

"Yea," I said uncomfortably. I really didn't like where this conversation was going.

"Well I'm nervous," she said.

"About fighting him?" I said.

"No," she groaned, "I'm not sure if he'll remember me or if he has a girlfriend."

"Okay, I give up," I said, "Why are you telling me this anyway?"

"Because I want to talk about it with someone," she said, "But if you want I can go talk to Christian about it. Christian! That's it!"

"What's it?" Christian butted in.

"Do those arrows that make monsters fall in love work on people too?" she asked.

"I don't know," he said, "Why?"

"Because, I want you to…"

"Wait," I interrupted, "Are you sure about that? I think you shouldn't mess with other people's emotions."

"Why are you not supporting me on this," she asked, "This is my first crush. Plus, he's a roman half-blood which means he's got to be strong."

"I just think," I said, and I couldn't believe what I was about to say, "I just think that if you really like him… you shouldn't force him to like you back. Plus I'm sure… I'm sure he will like you back."

"I guess you're right," she grumbled. I felt a twist in my stomach and I was really starting to hate that kid who helped her when she was little.

"Darn," Christian said, "I really wanted to try shooting someone."

"Maybe another time," replied Violet as she got up from her seat to go rejoin Alice. Once she sat down Christian took her seat.

"I knew you liked her," he hummed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said grimly.

"Hey," he said, "this is so juicy. Anyway, if you like her, why not tell her that instead of helping her get with someone else."

"I don't like her," I said.

"Sure you do," he said, "The way you look at her, the way your ears get so red when she talks about that other boy…"

"Will you just shut up," I almost shouted and everyone looked at me. Christian went back to his old seat and I sat there alone.


	12. Eli's Purification Problem Solution

**A/N: Please Review!**

Chapter 12

Eli's Purification Problem Solution

Time seems to go by faster when you're just staring out of the window.

"Hey, said Eli from behind me as he sat down next to me, "Are you alright?"

"Never better," I said.

"So what's bugging you?" He asked as he put Sunshine's cage by his feet.

"Nothing."

"That's not what Christian said."

"Why," I looked away from the window, "What did he say?"

"Nothing really. He just said that you're mad that Violet likes someone from the roman camp."

"That's not true."

"Please, everyone knows you like her. And everyone thought she liked you."

"Really …Well I don't."

"Because she likes someone else."

"Gods, I never liked her."

"Okay."

"Really? 'Okay'? Just like that?"

"Yea."

"Well alright then."

We sat in silence for a while.

"We're not going to successfully complete this quest are we? Not in two days," said Eli.

"We just have to hope for the best."

"What will happen to me if we don't succeed?"

"Hold up! We don't have to succeed we just have to complete it."

"What?"

"Apollo never said we had to succeed in order for you to be purified. But it'll be best if we do, but anyway, if we get to the underworld and help out even in the smallest way, you're purified."

"Okay but we'd still have to stop Kronos from rising. We'll need to be perfect in strategy. There are going to be many titans down there."

"Well," I said, "We don't need to defeat him. If we can drive the other titans from the underworld before he leaves Tartarus, we should be okay for the time being."

"And if he rises?" Eli asked.

"Then we have to do our best to make him leave the underworld. And stop him before he gets the giants awake. And once he's done with that, Gaea will awaken. If that happens… well then we would have lost. We just need to focus on keeping the underworld safe."

"But what about the other titans?"

"Hopefully enough Roman Demigods will help us. We can get much more strength and numbers most defiantly help with that."

"Man…" Eli sighed, "Why didn't we just send the whole camp."

"Because we didn't know it was going to be this big." I said. But we could have brought the whole camp. We would have had a lot more time to call them if I didn't decide to go by land. I felt like a complete moron. It was a selfish act and I should have just decided to fly. I would have still seen the landscapes if I did. However, I knew I wanted to do more than just view it from afar; I wanted to see it up-close and personal. Again, it was very selfish of me. Plus I couldn't rely on an old myth to tell me what will happen next. This is something new.

"Don't worry," He said as though he had read my mind, "It'll all turn out fine."

"I hope," I muttered under my breath.

Once again we sat in silence. After half an hour the train had finally reached San Francisco. We got of and I fed everyone to a deserted park. There I explained my plan to the others.

"Are you sure this will work?" asked Eli.

"Why wouldn't it work? It's the same way the Greeks beat the Trojans in the Trojan War." said John.

"Okay," Eli said.

"Alice," I said, "I need you to stay here and help Lucas any way you can."

"Okay," said Alice.

"While you guys work on that, John and I will teach the rest of you guys our strategy." I concluded.

By the time John and I were done explaining everything Lucas was already one forth of the way done building our master object. We all grabbed our armor and Eli lent Violet his bow and arrow, so she left her shield as a bracelet. We seemed to be all prepared. The Romans won't know what hit them. Of course, it was already part of the plan for them to win.

"Don't be long." Lucas said.

"We won't," Eli replied.

With that we left thee park and headed toward the bay area.

**A/N: Please Review!**


	13. The First Battle with the Trojans

Chapter 13

The First Battle with the Trojans

We followed the directions Chiron gave us to find the Roman Camp. Eventually we found ourselves on an abandoned street. On one side that led to more land was a bunch of rundown houses. On the other side which would probably end near the beach was a line of Palm trees.

We walked past the trees to find a gigantic arch that resembled the Arch of Constantine in Rome. Behind the arch was a camp somewhat similar to our camp, except they didn't have an arena, they had a colosseum.

We all lay down on our stomachs immediately. Everyone in the camp was wrestling or fighting.

It seemed that the only ones who weren't fighting was a group of extremely beautiful girls. They resembled the Aphrodite kids but there was a major difference. Aphrodite half-bloods just gossip and are extremely popular. The Venus half-bloods looked ten times worse. They looked like the type of girls who would harass a kid verbally until that person had completely broken down mentally.

The number of campers, however, was generally smaller than our camp. Still there was no way we could hold our own with only six of us, still we had to try.

I examined the camp and then I looked at their campers.

After that, I looked at the others and they were doing the same thing I was. Except Violet, she was staring at one thing. I looked in the direction she was staring at and then I saw the boy she liked. Like she said, he had black hair and green eyes. He, like all the other male campers, had a muscular build. He was fighting furiously, but at the same time, it looked as though it was in a sort of playful way. The boy he was fighting was a bit taller than he was and had blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Violet," I whispered, "Snap out of it and focus."

"Sorry," she said. As planed we crept around the camp to the back where there where cabins much like ours. Except the décor looked different and some of the cabins were also different.

We crept from cabin to cabin, each one was however empty. All of the campers were out then. We found a back entrance to their colosseum and John counted to ten. Once he reached ten we opened the doors and saw tons of campers. They all stopped and turned to us.

"Um," John said, "Hi."

Out of nowhere a camper shouted: "Intruders!" and the entire camp swarmed us.

We scattered throughout the camp in attempt to separate them. Each of us took on at least twelve campers a time.

Violet and Jake were taken down almost immediately. I saw, out of the corner of my eyes, them being carried off to the cabins. But I kept on fighting.

The remaining of us took down a decent amount of people but it wasn't enough. We retreated after a half hour of battling.

We were chased back to the park to find that the wooden horse had already been completed. Though my astonishment, I also realized that about ten trees had been cut down and a few benches were missing.

"Lucas," I said, "How'd you do this so fast?"

"You guys were gone for three hours. As soon as I finished you guys came back."

"You did an amazing job," complimented Christian.

**A/N: Okay, just in case any of you guys are confused I'm putting an explanation here. Lucas and Alice stay behind to build the unknown secret weapon while everyone else goes to lure the Roman Half-Bloods to it. they know however that there's no possible way to win (hense the secretapon). they retreat to the park where Lucas has finished the Secret weapon which is reall just a hollow wodden horse that is not special what-so-ever. the rest will be explained in the next chapter. **

**P.S. please review!**


	14. The Decision of Winning

Chapter 14

The Decision of Winning

With that we climbed in though the butt hole of the giant horse and stuck the not on the side of it. The note said:

_Noble Roman campers._

_For beating us,_

_We give you this structure as a reward._

We heard the other campers run into the park and woe at the masterpiece.

"Wow," said one camper.

"Can we keep it?"

"We should let Lupa decide."

"I don't know, something doesn't seem right about this."

"A gift's a gift. Let Lupa decide."

"Yea, we'll bring it to camp and if she doesn't want it we throw it in the ocean."

"Fine."

They dragged the horse to the camp. It took two hours because of the weight. Once we stopped we herd footsteps pound on the ground.

"What is this?" said a female. I could tell it was Lupa right away. It sounded strict and powerful.

"A gift from the intruders."

"Given to us for defeating them."

"I like it. I wish it was an Eagle instead but I like it."

"It's your decision if we should keep it."

"Why should it be my decision?" asked Lupa, "I say that you decide."

Something about the tone of her voice told me that she knew about the horse and that she was testing her campers.

"Let's have a vote."

"Alright."

Vote? We never have votes at Camp Half Blood. The council always decided.

After a half hour, the votes had been placed and counted.

"It seems as though everyone except the voters from the Minerva cabin wishes to keep it and…" said Lupa, "We shall keep it,"

We waited for them to place us. They put us behind the cabins and they all seemed to have left. We waited till dawn, until all of the campers had gone to sleep.

I looked through one of the cracks in the horse and saw Violet and Jake in some sort of cage. Jake was sitting in a chair and Violet was talking to that boy. Then Lupa came over and forced him to his cabin. She then walked away and seemed to have disappeared. I told the others we had to wait another hour.

We waited until we herd someone calling out Eli's name. We listened more closely and it sounded like Miss Bask. I looked through the crack and I saw Athena. Except, I think now she's Minerva. I turned and saw Eli about to shout out to his mom's voice. I rushed to him and slapped my hand on his mouth. Then Minerva's voice changed to another parent like voice.

"Every one stay quiet," I whispered, "It's my mom. It's a test. If any of us shout out the Roman Campers will discover us."

The others nodded and after five parent like voices being called many, many times, I saw Minerva change to Athena and pass into the horse. However I knew this was still part of the test so I kept quiet.

"You've past the test," she whispered, "Yes… I named you well."

I gave her a puzzled look.

"I named you after the wisest of all the Greeks. Odysseus was always my personal favorite. You past this test the same way he did. I congratulate you. You make me proud and I assure you that you will win this battle."

I stared at her as she turned into an owl and flew out of the butt whole and away from the camp. With that we climbed out of the horse and crept to Violet and Jake's cage. I cut the lock off with my sword and opened the door. Violet gave me a hug but remained silent. Then we all stared at Eli. He said his curse on the roman campers and we all crept to each cabin at a time. Eli's curse forced them to stay asleep no matter what noise we made. We went from cabin to cabin dismantling the campers and then we threw nets on them. We then threw the net on Lupa but she woke immediately.

"Nice try," she said. She gave out a howl that broke Eli's curse and everyone woke up. We ran out of Lupa's dwelling place and saw her jump over our heads and look to see if her campers would leave the cabins. She gave out another howl but nothing happened

"Humph," She ruffed, "It appears you have won, and more quickly than others have. But you knew that I knew?"

"Yes," I answered.

"You are very wise for your age."

"Thank you, now, if we release the campers, do you promise to order them not to attack." I said.

"I swear it on the River Styx. However if you had lost I would have made you leave or I would have ate you."

On that happy thought, the others went to go release the camp but I stayed to talk to Lupa.

I explained that we needed help, but she refused to send more than seven demigods. After a bit of arguing, I gave in and let her choose the ones to come with us. As she left to choose our future companions, I went to go gather the kids from my camp.

Eli, Christian, Jake, and Lucas where playing pranks on some of the Roman campers, Alice found and was playing with a doll, and I found John making out with some Venus girl. I had to pry them away from each other. Once that was accomplished she slapped me and gave John one last kiss. I was a little weird, considering our age. However I couldn't find Violet anywhere. I eventually found her by the wooden horse, flirting with the boy she liked.

"Violet," I said, "We have to go. Lupa is picking out who's coming with us and I want us all present to meet them."

"Relax," said the boy, "You need to calm down. Lupa already came over here, I'm coming."

"I'm sorry," I said, "Who are you?"

"This is Joseph, son of Neptune," Violet answered.

"That's great," I said sarcastically. No wonder I didn't like him, Athena/Minerva and Poseidon/Neptune are rivals. That, + the fact that he's Roman and I'm Greek = enimies.

"So you're leading this quest," he asked.

"Yea, now come on." I answered. I didn't know why but I felt furious at this guy. We walked to the colosseum and I saw Lupa and six other Roman campers, all around the age of thirteen and all lined up. Joseph joined them and Violet and I joined our group, which was... not a line, it was more like a blob of people.

"Roll call," Lupa said.

"Peter, Jupiter," said the boy I saw earlier with the blonde hair.

"Joseph, Neptune."

"Salvia, Ceres" said a girl with long brown hair, she was pretty, and the Greek version of her mom was Demeter.

"Billy, Bacchus" said a boy who's hair was red and his eyes were an almost purple, brown. His Greek dad would be Dionysus.

"Brandon, Mercury" said an Asian boy. His Greek dad would be Hermes.

"Keith, Erebus," said a boy with black hair and black eyes. His dad was a preimortal god! Erebus is the god of Darkness and is both Greek and Roman.

"Our turn," I said, "Hi, I'm Odysseus, son of Athena."

"Hey, my name is John, I'm a son of Ares."

"Hi, I'm Violet; I'm one of Iris's daughters."

"I'm Eli, son of Apollo."

"I'm Lucas, child of Hephaestus."

"Hey I'm Jake, son of Hades."

"I'm Alice, daughter of Hades."

"My name is Christian, I'm a son of Eros."

"All of us except Alice will be accompanied by you into the underworld." I said. Alice stayed quiet. Jake had already told her that if she spoke out of turn Lupa might eat her, which probably was true.

"We will not be able to use the usual entrance to the underworld," said Peter, "We have received news that there are a few titans guarding that entrance. We will need to use another entrance."

"We'll use one of the entrances Theseus past by," I said.

"Which one?" asked Joseph.

"The entrance of Cercyon."

"Whatsion?" asked Jake.

"Who will challenge him?" asked Joseph.

"I will." I replied.

"No offence, but the rest of us, well except the kid with the pink eyes, the rest of us can beat you up easily." said Keith.

"Theseus beat Cercyon with his wits and quick reactions. Being a child of the goddess of wisdom, I would most qualify."

"Alright," Keith said, but something told me that he wasn't so tuff either. He didn't look it and I had already calculated how I would beat him in battle. He seemed like one of those kids who acts all tuff but is really not.

"Then it's settled," said Lupa, "I expect you to have left camp within the hour."

Everyone went to double check their things. I, however, walked strait over to Violet.

"Hey," I said. She looked up and seemed disappointed that I wasn't Joseph.

"Hey," she replied.

"Violet," I said.

"What?"

"I don't know about Joseph. I don't think you should like him."

"Why?"

"It's just… There's something weird about him."

"Oh my gods."

"What?"

"I can't believe your saying this to me."

"I'm just trying to be honest."

"Whatever."

"What's your problem?"

"I can't believe that you…"

"That I what?"

"I don't know! I really like Joseph and you won't just let me like him."

"Hold up… you can like anyone you want. Its just…"

"Good. And I choose to like Joseph."

"Why? You barley know him!"

"Why does it even matter to you?"

"Because…"

I didn't even know what I was trying to say. I wouldn't have had anything against Joseph if it hadn't been for Violet. This whole thing was stupid. I just walked away and waited for the others by the arches.


	15. Entrance to the Underworld

Chapter 15

Entrance to the Underworld

Within half an hour we were all gathered and headed down the road. After a while we started running.

It didn't take long to find out where the entrance was. We found ourselves on an abandoned street where we found a flyer.

After I deciphered it I found that it said: "Come down to test your strength. But you'll have to pay the ultimate price if you loose. Just come down to the abandoned wresting arena on Saronic Gulf Boulevard to put you strength to the test." Ultimately it was a stupid flyer but it basically told us where to find the entrance. We went to Saronic Gulf Boulevard and saw that only one building had lights on.

We entered and we saw a man in his upper thirties. He was bald and he had a mustache. Oh and I almost forgot a small detail, he was ripped to infinity and beyond. There was no way even Hercules could defeat him. He smoked a cigar and sat in a chair in the center of a caged wrestling arena, he glared at us and then he looked like he just found out that it was his turn to take out the trash.

"What are you kids doin' here," he said as he puffed out a circle of smoke.

"We're here to challenge you." I said.

"Alright, but I'd hate to have to end a kid's life," He replied, "So which one of you am I beating?"

"Cercyon, you'll be wrestling me," I said. He let out a roar of laughter.

"Are you sure little guy." He laughed but I just climbed into the arena.

"Positive," I replied. His face went to a scary cheerful to an even more scary serious.

He charged but I swiftly dodged, causing him to run into the cage. Before he could turn around I jumped on his back and harshly pressed my fingers into his pressure pint on his neck. He let out a yelp and threw me off of his back and onto the ground.

I groaned and he tapped his elbow to show me what was coming. He jumped to hit me but once again I dodged by rolling out off the way.

He continuously tried to hit me but I kept rolling away. I kept on rolling until I suddenly hit myself against the cage. I looked up and saw him about to land on me. I did a swift summersault out off the way and stood back up.

Once again I jumped on his back before he got back up. However, this time I just wrapped my arms around his neck and started choking him. He gasped for air and after a minute he flung me onto the ground once again.

I turned and pointed out in the distance and said "Look!" It was the oldest trick in the book and, like any moron would, he turned his head to see what I was pointing at and I kicked a part that no man should ever be kicked in. He squeaked and fell onto his knees.

I quickly pressure pointed him until he knocked out. The guys and I tied Cercyon up with rope and locked him in the closet in the basement. Traditionally we were supposed to kill him but we didn't have enough time to drag around a dead body and get rid of evidence.

"Well," I said, "That takes care of that problem."

"You did well," said Joseph, "But where's the entrance to the underworld?"

"Through that door." I said.

"How can you tell?" asked Peter.

"Because it says in Ancient Greek _and_ English: "Entrance to Underworld."

With that Keith opened the door but there was barley enough room to go through so we went one at a time. Keith was the first to enter. I went in behind him followed by Peter and Joseph. We kept going. Violet went last and once Violet had entered the doors slammed shut. The girls screamed and Violet started pounding on the door.

"Violet, stop, we need to be quiet." I shouted in a whisper.

She stopped and hesitantly turned to keep on walking. We continued to go down the glacis staircase. It was absolutely pitch black. If I were to hold my hand in front of my face I wouldn't be able to see it. Suddenly I bumped into a wall.

"Jeez, turn to your right," said Keith.

"How did you know that there was a turn there?" I asked.

"I can see in the dark. Everything turns to a shade of white or gray though."

"That's pretty cool," I said, "But next time can you tell us when there's a turn."

"Sure." He answered.

We kept walking and turning and walking until there was a small bit of light up ahead. We didn't start to run; instead we just walked a lot faster. A quarter of the way to the entrance to the underworld we had reached the bottom of the staircase. We walked along the tunnel until we finally reached the end.

**A/N: Please review!**


	16. We All Go Nuts!

Chapter 16

We All Go Nuts!

Keith and I peeked our heads out of the tunnel to see if the coast was clear. I looked out and saw that we were not far from the Grove of Persephone.

I signaled the others that it was clear and we all crept to the grove.

It was beautiful! There were stone pathways that swerved throughout the garden and in the center was a beautiful fountain. There were different fruits all over the place, but there was this one pomegranate plant that seemed to glow. I knew that the others knew not to eat the fruit; if they did then they'll have to stay in the underworld forever.

I looked behind us and saw that right next to the tunnel was what appeared to be the ocean that the original Odysseus used to get to the underworld. I thought about his travels here and devised a plan. This was en extra plan that would have absolutely no effect on John's and my strategy for the attack on the underworld.

"John, we need to split up into groups," I said.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because I'm going to find out weather or not we have a chance at winning."

"How?" He asked.

"I'm going to take half of the group to a prophet to see if we can win, meanwhile you take the other half to Hades Palace so we won't waist time. Wait, Keith, can you shadow travel?"

"Yea, Why?" he questioned.

"You take Keith and I'll take Violet. If the prophet says we have no chance then Keith brings you guys to us, 'cause I don't want anyone dying. If he says we might be able to win though, then we teleport to you."

"Okay," said John, "Everyone back up. Now Violet go stand next to Odysseus, Keith, you come here by me."

The others did what they were told.

"We'll let the newest member of each team decide who is going to join our team next?" asked John.

"Sure," I said reluctantly.

"Peter." said Keith, and Peter walked by him.

"Joseph," Violet said, and he walked and stood next to Violet so that she was between him and me.

"Um… You're name is Jake right? Son of Hades?" said Peter to Jake, Jake nodded and walked over to him. It was wise of Peter to choose Jake because they could use him to get to the palace.

"Eli, right?" said Joseph as he pointed to Eli. Eli nodded and walked over to us. He and I gave each other a high five and he stood next to me.

"Lucas," said Jake. Lucas walked over to them.

"Christian," said Eli.

"Salvia," said Lucas.

"Billy," said Christian.

"Brandon" said Lucas; there was no one else to choose now.

We headed off in one direction and they ran in the other. As we ran I saw Cerberus on the other side of the underworld, but that's not important. 'Focus' I said to myself in my head, 'Focus.' As we ran I could feel the others and myself slowly slowing down. Eventually we stopped and found ourselves in an empty field as shadows of nothing crept over the small eerie plain.

"Why did we stop?" asked Billy.

No one answered. Something about this area stroke fear in our hearts. Not the kind of fear that you get when you see a scary movie and the killer comes out of nowhere, but the kind of fear that you know is there and slowly creeps into your soul.

From the shadows that spread thought the plain, we could hear the voice of an old women giving off a wicked witch type laugh.

Ghosts came from the ground. They were everywhere and had surrounded us. We faced the exit which was so close but it seemed that none of us had the courage to even move. A few feet in front of us a female ghost rose from the ground. She was absolutely terrifying. The left half of her body was completely White and the other half was completely black. This was a dead giveaway to her identity; Milinoe.

"Hello," she said in her wicked witch voice. It sounded like she came strait from the Land of Oz.

She didn't have to say anything we stood there for half a minute in silence and each second I became ten times more scared.

After the minute had past we all panicked. Violet screamed, Joseph and Billy cried and hugged each other, Christian curled up in a ball and rocked back and forth while did something really intelligent; I screamed and ran around in circles with my hands and arms high in the air. It was completely irrational but all of our minds were in a state of panic.

Eli, in a panic, raised his spear and forced light to come forth and get rid of the shadows. Milioe and her army of ghosts freaked at the light and retreated back into the ground. Once they left we all immediately regained our sanity.

"What just happened," said Christian and we all started running again.

We ran until we reached a rocky pinnacle near the River Phlegethon, which was a river that contained fire instead of water, and the River Cocytus, otherwise known as the River of Lamentation. There was a small path that led to the rock. Everywhere else around it was a small trench of ram's blood approximately the width of a forearm, the original Odysseus made it to summon Teiresias. Once we all stood on the rock Teiresias appeared. He wore a white toga and held a gray staff.

"Teiresias, prophet of Thebes, we need you to tell us about our upcoming battle."

"Yes…" he said, "You shall face troubles and it will end quickly and neither side will not prevail. Afterwards seven groups of three shall go on separate travels and meet again. Greek children of Iris, Apollo, and Nyx, and the Roman children of Venus, Dies, and Jupiter, the final group shall be lead by a satyr."

He gave us little too much information, but not enough about the battle. Before I could say anything he disappeared.

"So… are we going to leave?" asked Billy.

"No," I answered.

"But he said that neither sides will not prevail," said Joseph.

"It's a double negative," I said, "So both sides will win."

Joseph, Billy and Christian tried to figure it out what I had just said while Eli grabbed a drachma and Violet opened a rainbow. She got an image of the others, who were right outside of Hades' palace. Violet grabbed both Joseph and I and we grabbed onto the others. We ran though and accidentally ran into the others.

"So?" asked John.

"We have a shot." I answered.

**A/N Almost at the climax please review!**


	17. The Furies Do Something Sorta Helpful

**A/N: Sorry it took long. How come no one is reviewing? anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

Chapter 17

The Furies Actually Do Something That's Sorta Helpful

We walked in the doors and were greeted by the screeching furies. We took out our weapons but they didn't look like they were going to attack.

"Stop," Alecto said, "Are you here to help Hades?"

"Yes," said Peter.

"Then come this way," said Alecto.

"Are you going to imprison us or are you helping us?" I asked.

"We're helping you, if the titans take over, then we will no longer be torturers of the underworld." The furies answered in unison.

Something didn't seem right but we followed them anyway. They lead us to Hades thrown room and brought us along the shadows of the wall so we wouldn't be seen.

I took a glimpse at the thrown and saw Hades in the Chair of Forgetfulness, which he was tied to by snakes. (Don't ask why it's called that because it has nothing to do with forgetfulness, And no, I didn't make the chair up its really from mythology.) Demeter and Persephone were tending to him while Lapetus, titan of death, sat on the throne.

"Wait," I whispered to Alecto, "I thought his memory had been wiped away by Perceus Jackson."

"Kronos decided that he should rule the underworld so he restored his memories back to him." She answered. To his right was one of his sons, Menoetius, The titan of anger and rashness. We hid in a corner as we watched them as they discussed the future of the new age.

"What do we do now?" asked Alecto. Originally this was going to be Brandon's job since he was the fastest runner but I decided to give it to the furies.

"We need you to draw them away from the room." I answered.

"What shall we do?" they asked.

I explained the plan and at my word the furies flew up to them.

"What do _you _want?" asked Lapetus.

"It is almost time for Kronos to wake," they said.

"I thought it was later today," he replied.

"We are speeding up the process," the furies answered.

"Fine," Lapetus said as he stood to his feet, "Menoetius, stay here and guard Hades."

"Sure thing dad," Menoetius replied.

The furies flew off to gather the other titans, while Lapetus slowly walked out of the throne room.

We rushed along the wall towards Hades. We stopped behind him and saw snakes tightening around his arms and legs, making them pushed into the legs and armrests of the chair.

"Pst," whispered Salvia, "Mom, pst."

Demeter turned and looked at us, and slyly walked over and changed into human size. She and Salvia hugged and she looked at the rest of us.

"What are you doing here?" asked Demeter.

"We're here to help drive the titans away," answered Salvia.

"I don't think you can, there are titans all over here. I came at spring and they wouldn't let me leave."

"Its ok, Demeter, mam," I said, "We have a plan. This is Violet, she's going to bring you to out of the underworld and if you will, take her to Olympus, so you can get the other gods to help drive them away. I don't think they know yet. We need you to move swiftly though."

"I shall do as you ask," she said. She gave Salvia another hug and she and Violet teleported to out of the underworld.

Lucas started getting rid of the snakes and motioned for Hades and Persephone to stay quiet. Meanwhile the rest of us crept behind Hades' throne.

Peter took out his magical item. He was and archer and had the sight like an eagle, well that's at least what he said. He notched his nothing into his bow and once it was back an arrow shaped lightning bolt appeared. He shot it and when it hit the ground sparks flew everywhere.

"Hey," shouted Menoetius, "What was that?"

He walked over to see the dent in the floor, meanwhile all of the archers lined up and shot. All of the Archers really just consisted of Peter, Eli, and Christian, but both Eli and Christian shot five arrows at a time and Peter's arrows did the same amount of damage as fifteen.

All but two arrows hit and Menoetius bellowed in anger. He spun around to be greeted but another salvo of arrows.

He charged as planed and our archers rolled out of the way. Eli put his bow back in his back pack and took out his spear. Joseph took his weapon; a trident that gave and everlasting supply of water, and charged alongside John, Jake, Salvia, Brandon, Billy, and myself.

As we charged, Keith used his magical item which was a staff that helped him gain better control of shadows.

All the shadows left the room and blanketed Menoetius. He turned his head to try to see, but the shadows had blinded him.

He took his sword and swung randomly trying to figure out where we were. Every now and then we'd make a noise to lure him where we wanted him to go so when he would charge we could slash at him.

Eventually, Lucas gave the signal that Hades was free. Persephone helped him out of the way. I went over by the chair and waited for Lucas's next signal. When he gave it I shouted;

"Hey! Why even bother trying? We've already won!"

This enraged Menoetius, so he charged strait toward the sound of my voice.

Once he had reached the mark, Lucas tripped him and he fell in the Chair of Forgetfulness, but before he could get out, snakes came out of the chair and tied him to it.

"Come on guys," I said, "We still have a long way to go."

**A/N: Okay, next chapter will be the big climax. please review!**


	18. Gods vs Titans

**A/N: Okay, this is the big climax. Review and tell me what you think of it! This is also where the traitor is revealed. I would like you to think about who's missing. I'll tell you that two people are and both are girls. **

Chapter 18

Gods vs. Titans

We ran out of the palace and rushed toward Tartarus. We ran into the cave and once we'd reached the end we hid behind a large boulder.

I peeked to see what was going on and there I saw the eleven titans. The twelfth was Kronos.

We sill had time but we wouldn't be able to hold our own against that many titans. We had no choice but to wait for the gods, but if we did that, Kronos will have already risen. John gave me a look that reminded me that we had a plan.

We took out a drachma and Joseph used his triton to spray out water which made a rainbow. I said to the rainbow; "Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please show us Violet in the Empire State Building, 600th floor." The rainbow shimmered and on the other end were Violet and the other Olympian gods. Zeus almost shouted but Violet motioned him to be quiet. He looked annoyed but decided to just stay quiet. Violet motioned that she had already gone over everything them I motioned for Zeus to speak. He cleared his throat.

"How dare you try to raise Kronos again!" Zeus's voice sounded like it was coming from the far end of the cave.

I looked back and all but Violet were gone.

"They're on their way." She whispered but then she let out a gasp.

We looked behind us and there we saw five twenty feet tall male titans about to grab us.

We tried to run for it but they were too quick. They snatched us up. Each one carried two of us except for two who held three.

I was in the hands of Koios, titan of celestial axis and knowledge, who also held Brandon. We struggled and tried to wiggle our way out but it was useless.

I looked at the sword that I held in my hand and slashed at his forearm. The titan winced and dropped Brandon and I. he held his forearm and squeezed his eyes shut.

I went up and was about to slice his foot but he kicked me into another titan's legs which hurt just as much than if he kicked me into a wall.

I fell onto the foot and, although I didn't know which one it was, I stabbed their big toe. I heard a loud "Ouch!" and Peter and Joseph fell to the ground.

Joseph looked at me as to say thank you and we went to go help Brandon who was about to be thrown by Koios. Peter shot one of his lightning bolt arrows at his arm hoping it would make him drop Brandon but He moved his arm an the arrow missed. The titan that held Peter and Joseph, picked Joseph and I up from behind and Koios picked up Peter.

I looked and saw that the titan that held me now was Oceanus. His skin was green and scaly and all wet.

He started squeezing us and was about to snap our bones but out of nowhere two giant arrows shot at his arms. He bellowed in pain and dropped us.

We turned and saw Apollo with his bow and arrow in hand. Behind him were the other Olympian gods and goddesses, including Mr. D.

They were running in a flash and one by one I saw the other campers fall down from the clutches of the titans.

The Gods and Titans were like flashes of light as the fought each other. We looked and saw the female Titans fighting too.

We tried to find cover so that a God or Titan wouldn't step on us. We found ourselves facing Mary at the edge of Tartarus.

"Mary!" I exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"I would have thought that you would have figured that out already," she replied.

"You," I exclaimed, "You are the one who would betray us! You are the one who let the Manticore into camp! You knew the correct answer to the question in the Mississippi River but you got it wrong on purpose to try and kill us!"

"Wow," she said, "I can't believe it took you that long to figure it out. And to think I thought you were smart. But guess what, while you guys were busy playing capture the nitwits with the guy titans, the girls and I were rising Kronos. It's only a matter of time now before he rises."

John attacked her in rage. He was about to slice her head off but she counteracted with a sword that came out of nowhere.

They dueled but it was pointless. The only way to stop Kronos now was to defeat him once he's already risen.

John had the upper hand until Mary kicked him so hard, he flew through the air. As he was about to land, time dragged on and he fell in slow motion. The gods seemed to have slowed in speed to.

I tried to help John but I too was moving in slow motion.

Mary, however, turned and faced Tartarus at normal speed and the titans were moving at their normal speed too.

The ground slowly shook and Kronos rose out of Tartarus. Time went even slower while the other titans swiftly dismantled the gods. Once dismantled, Kronos went behind us and there was a long gulping sound and Mary walked behind us., Time resumed. John fell to the floor and the rest of us spun around to see what had happened. All we saw was golden ichor and weapons on the ground. Such as the aegis, a lightning bolt, a trident, bows and arrows, the helm of darkness, and some swords.

"What just happened?" asked Salvia.

"Oh. My. Gods." I said in shock, "Kronos just ate the Olympian gods, again."

"But last time dad got away," said Peter.

"That didn't happen this time." said Joseph.

"Wait!" shouted Eli, "Am I purified or not?"

"Well," I said, "We did help, but I guess with Apollo gone there's no way to tell."

"What do we do now?" asked Billy.

"We leave; we've got to get back to the Roman Camp Half-Blood. The titans rule this place now. And they also live right next to your camp." I said.

**A/N: What did you think? review! There will be one more chapter and then I'll get started on the sequel. I know the traitor was a little obvious so I tried raising suspision on Violet too, (She was missing from the battle) Once again I ask that you tell me what you thought because only Tyler Kight has been reviewing. Thank you Tyler and another unknown person! please review! please, take a few seconds to write your thoughts. I'm begging. please please please!**


	19. We Move to Mount Olympus

**A/N: This is the last chapter and I'm sorry it's so short. But I hope you enjoy it! _Please Review!_**

Chapter 19

We move to Mount Olympus

"I thought you to do better than that," huffed Lupa after we told her what had happened.

"We did the best we could," said Peter.

"Lupa," I said, "The gods went down, but for some reason they spared us, there must be a reason."

"Speak only when spoken to Greek," said Lupa, "But you make a point. We are to evacuate the camp. For the present time we will stay at the Greek camp until further arrangements can be made."

And with that she made the announcement to the other campers who all immediately packed their bags.

Lupa manipulated the mist and became an intensely large woman who looked like she would be the only female general in the U.S. army, either that or a really buff female P.E. teacher.

I don't know how rich this camp is but they must be pretty rich, Lupa, or as her pseudonym; Miss Wolf, bought plane tickets for the entire camp and us.

We entered the plane and nearly took up the entire thing. Violet went and sat next to Joseph which made me angry for some reason. No not angry... something else, I couldn't put my finger on it at the moment but I decided to just let it roll over my head and sat next to Eli.

We landed and saw Argus with the bus. We needed a few more buses though so Miss Wolf stayed with the few kids who couldn't go on. Argus drove us to Camp Half-Blood dropped us off and drove back to pick up the others.

At the top of Half-blood hill was Chiron who seemed disappointed. I didn't want to know that I had disappointed Chiron, he was like my father. Dave stood next to him. He would be devastated if he finds out Mary was the traitor but he would need to know.

We walked up and while Eli, John, and Violet lead everyone to the camp I stopped and stood in front of Chiron, not being able to look him in the face.

"Well," He said, "Considering the severity of this quest I would say you did just fine. Now, is it true of what I've been told? About the Olympian gods being eaten by Kronos?"

I nodded my head.

"Tell those that had accompanied you that there will be a camp meeting tonight and I want you all there. I will inform Lupa that the Roman camp Councilors will need to attend as well." He said.

I looked at Dave, "I'm sorry about Mary."

He didn't respond so I left to tell the others. None of the campers felt like celebrating. I mean would you want to celebrate when you've just heard that either your mom or dad has been eaten by the guy who will destroy the world? I sure wouldn't.

I told the others about the meeting and waited for night to fall. By then all the roman half-bloods and Lupa were there and I walked to the big house inside they put the longest table I had ever seen in my life. There were now forty cabins at our camp and an equal amount of cabins at the roman camp so I guess it was necessary. I was shocked to see that all of the Greek and Roman councilors were there, as were Lupa and Chiron. I sat and we waited for the rest to come. Most of them came in as one group, the rest came separately.

"Now that we're all her lets begin, Odysseus would you please give us how the entire mission went," asked Chiron.

I told them almost everything; I left out the part about my dad. When I finished Chiron looked at me.

"Well, the prophecy doesn't seem complete," Chiron said.

"What do you mean?" I asked trying to pretend that I didn't know what he was talking about.

"Well," he started, "The first line was complete when you found Jake and his sister Alice in the rain forest. The second line is unknown. The third line is complete since if the Romans won you wouldn't have gotten any help and probably wouldn't have gotten as far as you did in the quest, either that or you would have died. And the fourth line is complete since Mary, who had gone missing, betrayed you."

"Chiron," I said, "May I speak with you in private?"

He and I walked in to the next room and I told him my experience with my dad. He gave me a hug and promised not to bring it up.

"So you say that next year a child of Iris, Apollo, Nyx, Venus, Dies, and Jupiter, a satyr will each lead a quest and each quest corresponds with each other." Chiron said as we re-entered the room in attempt to change the subject.

"Yes, but that same prophet said that both sides would win! I don't know about you but it seems to me like we lost," said John.

"That is not true," said Chiron, "First, we won because Kronos didn't eat you too. Secondly; this has formed a temporary bond between the Greeks and the Romans. Due to lack of space to fit both camps we will be moving everyone to Mount Olympus, where we will have extensive training courses. We won because if we won the battle we would have stayed separated. We'll need combined forces in order to win this one."

To Be Continued

**That's The end of Part one. **

**So The gods have been eaten, ELi is unsure If he's been purified and it seems as though that the Titans have already won and that it can't get any worse. If there's to be a sequel it will!**

** Review if you want me to make a sequel. I'm not exactly sure if I should.**


	20. Ending AN

**A/N: Well, I have decided to continue. I can't leave anyone with that large of a cliff hanger! That would just be plain rude. OH and I've noticed some of you reviewed only once. Thanks (sarcastically). If your one of those people please review more in part two.**

**Now for the name. I'm leaning toward it being called, "The Labors from Eurystheus." Should I add "Son of Athena" in front? Should I make up a whole new name? You tell me! Oh and just so you know; Eurystheus is the guy who gave Hercules his twelve labors.**

**In part two Odysseus goes back to Camp Half-Blood (now on Mount Olympus) after a year of school with his friend Eli. Each cabin -that Teiresias, prophet of Thebes, said- have a contest to see who can lead the seven quests. Violet wins one of the contests and chooses Odysseus and another companion (guess who) to go gain the same mustard and whine combo that was used to make Kronos disgorge his kids so that they can do that again. Eurystheus is the holder of this wine and isn't about to let them take it without doing some labors for him. **

**here is the prophecy:**

_ The seven quests to free the gods intertwine _

_Eurystheus holds the secret of mustard and wine._

_The twenty Giants freed from Titans_

_Titans and Giants combined will topple the rein of Olympians_

**Tell me what you think!**


	21. Sequel

**A/N: Okay so the sequel is up for anyone who wants to read it. It has been named Son of Athena, Labors from Eurystheus. please go read and review!**


End file.
